Monthly Archives: September 2020

How Can organizational Culture Attract and Retain Talented Employees?

Posted on by Ankita Sanyal
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The constant focus for corporate companies lately has been paying attention to creating, fostering, and sustaining organisational culture, also called corporate culture. It is not P&G alone – all successful companies like IBM, HP, Apple, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, L&T, Tata’s, Wipro, Cognizant, or Infosys – have one underlying factor behind the success, and that is maintaining a workplace culture. Culture is like the DNA of the organisation, unique to itself. Culture has a direct proportional impact on employee attention, retention, performance and satisfaction. The value system of the workplace culture manifests itself through the language they speak, murals on the wall, their building aesthetics and a host of other artefacts. Companies with a strong workplace culture rightly consider it to be very precious. Sometimes more important than a trade secret and in some sense, unique. Organisational members begin to feel a strong bond with the company they are working for. The strong bond transcends material returns given by the organisation, and the employees begin to identify with it. The entire organisation turns into some clan. 

MEANING OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

`From a wider perspective, the word ‘culture’ linguistically translates to the universal set which includes knowledge, principles, beliefs, morals, law, custom and other capabilities and habits acquired by particular individuals in a society. Two important aspects of culture are cultural history and mutual phenomenon. Cultural History is the cultural mores of a society that are transgenerational. The second term points towards the cultural ethos and the principles that are shared among the members of society. In other words, unlike one-person specific, culture is a group-specific concept. Organisational culture or company culture is a reflection of the ideologies, values, assumptions, beliefs, expectations, attitudes and norms that weave an organisation together and are shared by its employees. Organisational members tend to internalise cultural policies and practices and like to indoctrinate newcomers into such moves. Some of these practices are thoroughly internalised that no one can question them – they are taken for granted; in other words, they get institutionalised.

UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:

Corporate culture mainly consists of three distinct levels, namely, common assumptions, shared values and observable values.

  1. OBSERVABLE CULTURE:

    At the surface is the observable culture, it could be considered as the first layer which manifests through symbols such as physical design, dress code, logos, gadget, and murals. It broadly includes unique office stories, traditions and rituals that add up to the history of the success of the organisation.

  2. SHARED VALUES:

    The second level includes shared values. Shared values apply to all organisational members, and no deviation is tolerated. Common uniformity and shared beliefs or mutual values represent a shared culture. Corporate Vision and Mission must be shared by all and must be binding all.

  3. COMMON ASSUMPTIONS:

    The third level is of Common assumptions, the deeper or hidden aspect of organisational culture. These are the taken for granted truths that every organisational member shares as a result of their collective experience. As difficult as it may be to isolate these patterns but doing so helps give a valid explanation of culture invading every aspect of organisational life. The common assumption may surface in an organisational crisis, like for example, the way a senior executive guilty of sexual harassment, is handled or an employee caught indulging in an ethical act is dealt with. How employees stand united to thwart hostile takeover bid and the way employees volunteer for pay cuts to steer the organisation from the financial crisis are also instances of the common assumptions.

ATTRACTION, SUSTENENCE AND RETENTION OF TALENT:

Few strategies that support the cause :

  • SELECTING AND SOCIALISING EMPLOYEES:

The main purpose of the hiring process to hire the right people for the right job. When for a given job, two or more candidates with identical skills and abilities are available final selection is influenced by how well a candidate fits into the organisation. By identifying candidates who can help with the organisational culture selection help sustain culture considerably. Job applicants to look at an organisation from its cultural perspective before seeking entry into it. More than pay and perquisites in an organisation offers, it is the cultural artefacts that often attract or detract job seekers. Along with selecting people with compatible values, companies maintain strong cultural aspects through the effective socialisation of new employees. 

The socialisation of employees is the learning process of every individual to acquire values, expected behaviour, and social knowledge necessary to assume their roles in the organisation.

Pre-arrival, encounter and metamorphosis are the three central stages of employee Socialisation. Pre-arrival is the initial stage that encircles the learning aspect that occurs before a new member joins the organisation. Encounter, the next stage, where the new employee sees what the organisation is and confronts where his/her expectations diverge reality. The last stage is related to lasting changes that take place. The new employee masters and adjusts the skills required for his or her new roles in accordance with his or her work group’s values and norms.

  • PERFORMANCE AND SATISFACTION:

Company culture has a significant impact on performance. Culture has an innate quality of performance enhancement for at least four reasons.

    1. Culture makes strategy implementation
    2.  Organisational wide common goals as employees share common goals
    3. a strong culture creates a high level of motivation because of the mutual values shared by the members
    4. strong culture provides a control mechanism without the prospect of bureaucracy

There is a correlation between organisational culture and employee satisfaction. But individual needs of employees main monetary the relationship between culture and satisfaction. In general, satisfaction will be the highest when there is congruence between individual needs and organisational culture. For instance, an organisation whose culture would be characterised is low in structure, having loose supervision and rewarding employees for higher achievement is more likely to have more satisfied employees if those employees have a higher achievement need and prefer autonomy. Thus, job satisfaction often varies according to employees’ perception of the culture.

  • STRONG COMMITMENT FROM EMPLOYEES:

Culture not only increases their commitment to the organisation but also creates a sense of identity in them. When employees in the values of the company define their work intrinsically rewarding and identified with their fellow workers, motivation is enhanced, and their morale has an automatic boost. The commitment of employees could be picturised as a three phases plan :

    1. Compliance – people confirm to obtain some material benefit.
    2. Identification – the demands of culture are accepted to maintain good relationships with colleagues.
    3. Internalisation – People find that the adoption of cultural values of the organisation produces intrinsic satisfaction because these values are in line with their personal values. In many ways, This is an ideal status as far as the acceptance of organisational values are concerned and if widespread, is indicative of a strong culture.

  • MAINTAINING A STABLE WORKFORCE:

An organisation’s culture is embedded and projected through the minds of its employees. Organisational stories are rarely written down; rituals and celebration do not usually exist in manual, and organisation metaphors are not found in corporate directories. Thus, a stable workforce that communicates and reinforces the dominant beliefs and values is what an organisation seeks. High turnover and downsizing can demolish the organisational culture because the ‘corporate memory’ leaves along with those employees. Organisational culture also weakens during periods of rapid expansion or mergers because it takes time for incoming employees to learn about and accept the dominant corporate values and beliefs. For this reason, some organisations keep their culture intact by keeping a mindful check on their employee growth and turnover ratios.

  • CULTURALLY CONSISTENT REWARDS:

Reward systems strengthen corporate culture when they are consistent and with cultural values. Aggressive cultures might offer more performance-based individual incentives, whereas Paternalistic cultures would more likely offer employee assistance programs, medical insurance, and other fringe benefits that support employees’ well being.

How important is organization culture for any organisation? Is it more important than the monetary aspects? Let is know in the comments below

11 Best Jobs for Women in India 2024

Posted on by Aanchal Lohia
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Jobs are undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of any person’s life. All those years of schools, hundreds of books, all-nighters for preparation for exams, and then anxiously waiting for the results. So much of labour, done for what? For securing a stable, well-off job that can fend your and family’s needs, provide you with all the amenities that you oh-so-crazily desire and your dream life. Having a job offers a sense of accomplishment, the freedom to make decisions and live life on their terms. 

Everyone must have the right to choose what profession they want to enter and make a career in. Be it a man or a woman; your gender should not come in the way of your career progression. Gone are the days when females were only allowed to descend upon a specific career path, and the other jobs were touted as more “suitable for a man.” Especially in this age and generation, when women are giving a tough competition to everyone in every field imaginable, be it being managers or running for the Presidents, women can do them all! 

Working in the tech-driven industry, managing director of a company, serving in the Indian navy to representing India in sports at a national level, you name it, and women have got it covered. Curated below is the list of best jobs that any woman can pursue in India and build a fantastic career out of it!

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Also Read: 8 Best Creative Jobs In India

11 Best Jobs for Women in India

1. Teaching Profession

Women have naturally been considered nurturing, able to understand a child’s needs better than a man, and can guide a young blooming flower in a much better way than anyone else. So, teaching still claims the number one spot as the best jobs for women. The teaching profession also provides different routes for giving knowledge. Apart from being the traditional classroom faculty and home tuitions, growth in the digital sector has also opened the option of offering e-learning from the comforts of their homes. Apart from parents, teachers are the ones who touch a child’s heart, and a caring, soft, tender natured woman is the best suited for this job.

2. Hospitality Jobs

Women are inadvertently associated with glamour. Hospitality is an indispensable part of most services, and with the growing service sector in India, the hospitality sector is expanding, which opens up job opportunities for women. Communication skills are the essential skills required to be a hospitality staff. Women tend to possess them naturally, thus making this career a suitable one for them. Be it an air hostess or a receptionist at a five-star hotel, this sector is booming, and so is the number of jobs associated with it.

3. Medical Field

One of the noblest professions considered, women are the perfect fit for the medical sector. Evolution turned women into natural care-givers, and it goes perfectly with the medical profession. Though it does require years of dedication and higher studies, a medical profession is a fulfilling one. Gynecologists and nurses are the two careers where there is a strict demand for females only. The medical profession does provide a stable job, which makes it so popular for females.

4. Entertainment Industry

Everyone knows, the entertainment industry is a diva’s job. And who can be a greater diva than a woman who was born with the attitude to slay? Indian Bollywood industry is one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world, which serves as a huge job provider. Not just acting, there are other professions like anchoring, modelling, dancing stylists, cinematographers, and many more. The entertainment industry is one of the most sought-after industries in India, where millions of girls dream of being a part of and thus secure a household presence. With the right talent, you are born to make it big there, girl!

5. Human Resource Manager

Take a moment and think. Is or was your HR manager a woman? Yes? That is because human resource is a sector that is currently dominated by women. Most of the organisations today prefer to hire a female for this job because of the great inherent interpersonal skills and the ability to listen, understand, and provide a solution to the problem, belongs to women. HRs are one of the most valuable assets of the company, and thus the firm desires to fill this post with someone who can do justice to the job, and most of the women perfectly fit the shoe.

Also Read: 13 Best Jobs for the Future in India

6. Media and Journalism

Again, excellent communication skills are a great advantage for all women. The poise, the grace required to be present in front of a camera and collect and present it on the television, to some women, this skill comes naturally. The field which provides you with the right to exercise your creative part of the brain and satisfy your imagination this sector can be checked out for sure.

7. Finance and Banking

One of the few sectors, which clearly shows that women can do anything when they set their mind on something. A male-dominated sector for a long time, women are slowly making progress here as well. This profession requires a lot of people management skills and patience. A booming sector now, women with excellent customer handling skills and knowledge of the industry can make it big in this domain for sure. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chanda Kochhar, Indira Nooyi are some Indian women who have set the example in the field of finance.

8. Sports

Though a common notion that sports are a field for men, current generation women have broken all barriers and made headlines with their outstanding performance in the sports industry. P.V. Sindhu, Mary Kom, Mithila Raj, Dipa Karmakar, Hima Das, Geeta Phogat, the names are endless. From being the youngest Indian ever to win a medal in the Olympics to becoming World Amateur Boxing champion for a record of 6 times to the first Indian to win a gold medal at the IAAF World U20 championships, these women have done it all. A highly lucrative career option, which can be pursued if interested in the field of sports.

9. Designing

Be it fashion designing, jewellery, or interior, women have been flourishing in almost every field. Women tend to excel in this field more because if their natural exposure to these fields. From creating your showrooms to working under a professional and enhancing your skills, this domain offers many options to capitalize on your interest. 

10. Beauty and Cosmetics

It is not a hidden fact that the skill of makeup is something that all the females proudly hone. Turning something that you love doing into a full-fledged career option, isn’t it great? There are various beauty schools where you can earn a degree as a beautician and start practicing as a beauty therapist. Setting up your beauty salon with multiple services to offer, you can go strong in the game. 

11. Fitness Sector

A booming sector, with more and more individuals going fitness crazy, this sector provides a lot of job opportunities. Any fitness-loving female can have a great career in this domain. Online fitness related videos are in trend nowadays and are becoming very popular in today’s era. Aerobics, Zumba, yoga, core work-out, and many options available for you to try out our fitness calling!

Women today dream bigger and also has the zeal to fight for equal rights. In no sense do they consider themselves less than their male counterparts? And why should they? There is nothing in today’s generation that a man can do, and a woman cannot. Many are breaking this glass ceiling and setting new examples and benchmarks every day. Woman today has the same capability, maybe even more, to be the financial support of their family. Just believe in yourself, and you can achieve the world, girl!

Employee Training – Meaning, Benefits, Types, Process, Facilitation & Measurement

Posted on by Ankita Sanyal
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MEANING OF EMPLOYEE TRAINING

Employee training refers to the process of imparting specific skills to the employees via classroom OR practical training programs. The training programs make the workforce more efficient and has numerous other benefits. Let us look at some of these benefits below

BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE TRAINING

Employee training ensures employee retention and prevents burnouts by removing performance deficiencies, drive employee engagement making employees stay long, minimizing accidents, scraps, damage and meeting future employee needs. Strong training programs ensure greater stability, flexibility and capacity for growth in an organization. Training contributes to employees in many ways, efficiency heading the chart. Efficient employees contribute to the growth of the firm. Growth renders stability to the workforce for the trained employees who tend to stay with the company. They seldom leave the company. Training makes the employee versatile in all operations giving increased flexibility to the organisation. Leading to growth and prosperity which is reflected in increased profits from year to year.

Employee training is not only advantageous for individual employees but also gives an added advantage to the firm/company. If we look into these two broad categories closely we would see how individual employee training has an overall impact on the entire organization.

  1. Profitability:

    Beginning with how training benefits the organization,  leading with improved profitability for the company because of efficient employees, building a positive attitude towards profit orientation.

  2. Job knowledge:

    Employee training enhances job knowledge and skill at all levels of the organization which helps to create a better corporate image. Proficient job knowledge through training boosts employee confidence leading to improved morale of the workplace.

  3. Avoids confusion:

    Elaborate employee training ensures clarity of mind among the employees which helps to foster authenticity, openness and trust. Not just clarity of mind, it also helps an individual in making better decisions and effective problem-solving skills. Employee training also provides information for improving leadership knowledge, communication skill and attitude of the employee. Confusion among employees reduces, therefore a healthy relationship is maintained between the employer and employee.

  4. Boosts Confidence:

    Once an employee is confident about the job that they are doing and is well acquainted with the job knowledge he or she can handle stress, tension, frustration and conflict in a smoother manner. employee training also provides information for improving leadership knowledge, communication skill and attitude of the employee.

  5. Motivation:

    It motivates an employee towards his or her personal goals while improving interactive skills. Training not only aids in development for promotion from within but also helps in developing leadership skills, motivation, loyalty and other aspects that successful workers and managers usually display. Increased motivation leads to an increase in productivity and quality of work which insures growth in the organization leading to more profits. When an employee is well aware of the job and has enough knowledge about the job that they are performing it negates the element of fear in attempting new tasks. Here are Top 50 Motivational quotes for Employees & Workplace to further aid an HR

TYPES OF EMPLOYEE TRAININGS

Throughout the years we have seen a lot of employee training methods and types such as instructor-led training, eLearning, simulation employee training,  hands-on training, coaching or mentoring,  lectures, group discussion and activities, role-playing, management-specific activities, case studies or other required reading. Training for every sector is different as per their  requirements and is supported with a specified description about the training. Trainings are broadly categorised in 2 heads

  1. Functional Trainings:

    Functional Trainings are usually given to increase the functional competency of the Employee. These trainings are usually given by domain experts aimed to make people better at their Jobs.

  2. Behavioural Trainings:

    These training programs are usually focussed around interpersonal skills of employees. Behavioural training improves communication between individuals, also among employees at every level of the organization, maintaining a healthy communicative relationship between individuals and groups. Not just communicative clarity, it also ensures cohesiveness in groups which makes the organization a better place to work in. From a wider perspective employee training also provides information on equal opportunities in affirmative action.

    Now that we have a basic idea about how employee training programs are beneficial to individual employees belonging to every level of the organisation impact on the overall growth of the organisation, let’s put some light on the benefits of employee training in personnel and human relations, intragroup and intergroup relations and policy implementation.

EMPLOYEE TRAINING PROCESS

A training program is tailored through a well-defined process. Starting with need assessment and various issues in need assessment the plan leads to deriving instructional objectives which gives a blueprint about the training and development design and the various types of training. On having a satisfactory training design, the appropriate one is selected with instructional programs which is further implemented as the final employment training program.

Trainings are necessary, not just for new joinees but also for professionals & the leadership team 

  • Training Programs for Freshers: New joinees have a prior formal education and it is recommended to give them specific training programs to make them industry ready. Classroom training and On-Job training are complementary in nature and are a part of the entire training program for Freshers. These trainings are mostly functional in nature
  • Training for Professionals: Professionals are required to regularly undergo training programs to keep their knowledge updated & stay abreast of the best industry practices. Trainings at this end are a mix of functional & behavioural trainings.  
  • Training for Organizational Leaders: Mostly behavioural in nature, these trainings are usually around team building, decision making, motivating team members and improving cross functional communication. Since the stakes are highest at Leadership positions, it is all the more necessary for organisations to invest more time & resources in employee training. 

TRAINING NEED ASSESSMENT

The most crucial element in a training plan is the need assessment. The need assessment is the diagnosis that presents all the problems and the future challenges to be met through training. The issues to be addressed in need assessment generally comprises organizational support, organization analysis, task and KSA analysis, and lastly person analysis. After need assessment, comes deriving instructional objectives which is the next phase in the training process which is to be identified. The instructional objectives help in preparing a blueprint that describes the objectives to be achieved by the trainee upon completion of the training program. Next, comes the designing phase which mainly includes

  • Who are the trainers?
  • Who are the trainees?
  • What methods and techniques are being used for the training?
  • What are the principles of training?
  • Where is the program being conducted?
  • What should be the level of training?

EMPLOYEE TRAINING TEMPLATE

A well proof training plan ensures optimum utilization of every human resource that is available at hand and ensures that no talent is being wasted . Hence comes the main role of an employee training plan template, which schedules the training program for every employee in a customized manner so that the employee and employer get most out of it. Similar to an itinerary, a training plan template includes the name of the employee the group that the employee belongs to, the number of hours that the employee is training for and the tasks involved in the training plan. Employee training plan template is used extensively in the Army or Airforce services where every cadet is assigned a task and a log/record is kept which acts as their personal training plan template. A general plan template looks like the following:

COMPANY NAME:

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

NAME OF CANDIDATE :

POSITION OF CANDIDATE :

DATE

TIME

TASK

PURPOSE

NUMBER OF HOURS

Feedback from the reporting manager of the employee is also recorded while developing an employees’s training plan. The final employee training plan is approved by the HR manager of the company. The HR manager is required to look after the needs of the employees and how the betterment of the employees is going to have a positive impact on the organisation as a whole and accordingly make changes to the training plan as & when required. A general training plan mainly includes the following :

Example,

For any company a general employee training plan looks something like the chart/table given below.

Employee Training Template Example

DATE

TEAM

AREA

DESCRIPTION

TRAINER

STATUS

01/09/2020

SALES AND MARKETING

TARGETS AND GOALS

Training on how to reach the goal and acquire the required sales target.

MR. XYZ

COMPLETED

02/09/2020

SALES AND MARKETING

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Soft-skills, interpersonal skills, negotiation skills.

MR. ABC

IN-PROGRESS

03/09/2020

HUMAN RESOURCE

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Advanced training on how to review employee performance and manage employee performance on certain scales.

MR. MNO

COMPLETED

04/09/2020

HUMAN RESOURCE

PAYROLL AND INCENTIVES

Effective use of software for payroll management.

MR. RST

COMPLETED

05/09/2020

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SOFTWARE

Introduction to new software and enhanced new technology.

MISS. J

IN-PROGRESS

06/09/2020

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SOFT SKILLS

Training on communication skills.

MRS. T

IN-PROGRESS

07/09/2020

ACCOUNTING

SOFTWARE

Introduction to new accounting software and it’s working.

MISS. FGH

IN-PROGRESS

Be it and an on-the job training and off-the job training, the HR manager needs to look out for the fulfillment of the needs assessed in the first stages of the training process. Scheduling an employee training plan is not  just enough,  an HR manager needs to keep a track of the training program and how effectively it is working.

MEASURING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS

Finally once the training process is reeling we cannot put a full stop to it without a measurement of how effectively the training process has been going. There are a lot of ways to check the level of usefulness of the training process by measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of employees individually and whether it’s having a greater impact on the organisation as a whole or not. One may resort to checking the level of productivity of the employees which could be a yardstick of measurement of the training procedure or a log record could be kept where the employees have to register about their work change and the level of their individual output after the training. As much as feedback from the HR manager is required for approval of an employee training plan,  feedback from the employees also prove to be essential.

Conclusively, an employee training plan has to strike a balance between the management, administration and the employees of the organisation and how the needs of individual employees and of the organisation could be put down on paper as a directive plan for training the employees of the organisation, for them to prove to be a strong asset. To sum up, we can say

TRAINING NEED =  STANDARD PERFORMANCE-ACTUAL PERFORMANCE

and to fulfill the deducted performance amount,here comes in the need for training  which can lead to further development of the organisation providing them with a competitive advantage.

Recruitment – Meaning, Process, Best Practices, Types, Trends & Future

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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Recruitment is an ever-necessary and extremely important process in an organisation. It serves as a pre-math for selection. Recruitment is a deciding factor on the correct candidates being actually chosen in the selection process. Hence, attracting a better pool of candidates in the recruitment process proves to be extremely beneficial.

The process of recruitment largely varies due to the size of the organisation. A small or medium-sized firm may have only one person as a recruiter or a hiring manager. However, a larger company is most likely to have a whole dedicated team of recruiters to carry on the process effectively. A well-framed recruitment process helps both the company and the applicants. The company gets to generate a potential pool of candidates whereas the candidates get potential employment opportunities.

MEANING OF RECRUITMENT

Recruitment is an integral part of Human Resource Management. Recruitment is a hiring process where firstly the staffing and organizational needs of the company are identified. After that, a potential pool of candidates for the required staffing is attracted. The pool of candidates is generated by firstly identifying these candidates. These can be done by both internal and external sources. Next, the recruiter should attract these candidates to apply for the job. This can be done by extensive advertising in job sites, campus drives, reaching out to potential candidates from company database etc.

Know more about Sources, Purpose & Importance of Recruitment here.

TYPES OF INTERVIEWS

The recruitment process is followed by the selection process which is then followed by an employment interview. An interview is a formal meeting with potential candidates which involves an in-depth conversation conducted to evaluate acceptability. Its popularity stems from its flexibility. Discussions are adapted to consider unskilled, skilled managerial, and operational employees.

Based on interaction with candidates interviews may be classified into three categories :

1. One-to-one interview :

In this type of Interview, there are only two participants- the interviewer and interviewee.

2. Sequential interview :

This type of interview is a higher version of the one to one interview process and involves a series of interviews, usually utilizing the strength and knowledge base of each interviewer and they can ask questions in relation to his or her subject area to each candidate, or he/ she moves from room to room.

3. Panel interview :

This type of interview consists of two or more interviewers and the number may go up to as many as 15. Panel interviews are not very personal similar to one to one interviews, but if handled and organized well, it can provide a wealth of information. If not handled carefully, the panel interview can make the candidate feel ill at ease and confused about whose question to answer and who to address. Interviewers themselves are likely to experience nightmares, not knowing who will ask which question and in what order.

4. Phone interview :

Many organizations use this type of interview and it is considered more useful than one-to-one or panel interviews to ascertain the candidate’s sustainability. For these types of interviews unintentionally the main focus of the interviewer gets derailed from one’s appearance or handshake, the interviewer and interviewee focus on asking and answering questions. Phone interviews save time and are economical. It is widely used in IT companies while hiring technical employees.

5. Online interview :

Most of the organizations are dependent on computers and the internet to conduct interviews. A typical computer interview requires the candidate to answer a series of multiple-choice questions custom made for the job. These answers are compared with a benchmark score to determine the sustainability and suitability of a candidate. The computer interview can also be used to filter undesirable applicants who have applied online.

HOW TO SET UP AN INTERVIEW :

The selection process follows recruitment which starts with an interview. All kinds of interviews, whether structured, unstructured, mixed, behavioral, or stressful, every interview type goes through a process before implementation. From a general perspective, after the recruitment process, once a compact pool of candidates is selected, they have to go through the interview process to choose the candidate. 

Best practices to be taken care of before setting up an interview are:-

  1. An Official Communication:

After the recruitment process, an official formal mail is sent to the candidate for the next round for which he or she is selected.

The mail should contain details like the candidate’s essential requirements such as their identity proof and resume. 

The mail should clearly state the location of the interview process with an attached Google Map

       2. E-Recruitment:

In this day and age where the pandemic has taken over the world and physical workspace has its own constraints, organizations mainly bank on the Internet and online work mode. Though e-recruitment has been a concept for years now, selecting the electronic interview is relatively a newer concept. For an electronic interview process, after the recruitment process, the organization is to send the candidate a mail about the electronic interview to be held and the email must contain the following specification:-

a. The online platform at which the interview is to be held be it Google meets or zoom

b. The duration of the online interview

c. Specifying to have a steady internet connection so that there is no lag in connectivity

d. The link for the meeting

       3. An Acknowledgment Mail:

Be it an online interview or a physical interview, after screening candidates via interview, the organization must send a thank you letter thank you mail to the candidate for attending the interview and acknowledging it. If the candidate has been able to impress the panel members or the interviewer, they would be informed about whether they need to appear for the background check and the other selection processes.

BEST PRACTICES IN RECRUITMENT

Needless to say, the job market is competitive. This does not only mean that the candidates find it difficult to look for their dream job. This also means that the organizations also have to put their best foot forward in order to attract and finally recruit the best possible candidate. An ill-framed recruitment policy will mean that the organizations miss out on the best fit for their current job role.

The followings are the best practices in the recruitment procedure to ensure its success.

  1. Customized process:

    The recruitment process should be customized according to the size, structure and need of the organization. The process should be well-defined and executable. A planned process without the potential for execution will act as a barrier to the success of recruitment.

  2. Right recruiter:

    Recruitment is not just screening a resume and taking an interview. The recruitment process is detrimental to the success of the organization. Hence, having the right and a well-trained recruiter is important for the success of the process.

  3. Sales function:

    On an overall basis, the process of recruitment should be treated as a process of sales. This means that the goal of the recruitment process would be to sell the idea of the job and the current position to prospective candidates. The successful selling of the idea of the job to the right candidate will result in successful recruitment.

  4. Relationship between hiring managers and recruiters:

    The goal of the hiring managers is to fill a vacant job position with a candidate. On that account, they are likely to set very unrealistic time-frames for recruiters. This severely hampers the quality of the process. A good professional relational between the managers and the recruiters will ensure transparency. This will build a level of trust and reliance between them thereby leading to high-quality recruitment.

  5. Use social-media:

    The huge network of social media is one of the biggest opportunities that present-day recruiters should leverage. Creating a candidate pool by a social-media search, not only provides a wide array of options but also cost-effective. The online job portals and platforms like LinkedIn are filled with prospective professionals and can hugely facilitate the recruitment process. Know more about Social Media Recruiting here

  6. Candidate experience:

    Recruitment is a step-by-step process and each step is vital to the process. The candidate experience throughout each step is highly important in the recruitment process. If the candidates have a negative experience, it very likely that they will probably leave the process mid-way or spread negative word-of-mouth about the organization. Hence a positive candidate experience will make sure the organization does not let go of potential candidates, and thereby pave a way for employee referrals.

  7. Applicant tracking system (ATS):

    Finding the right candidate for the right job is the sole purpose of recruitment. Maintaining a large pool of candidates that the organization has acquired over the years is a complex and difficult task to manage. Hence employing an ATS in the recruitment process will ensure that it will match the job with the candidates registered in that system. Also, the large pool acquired over the years ensures that there is already a huge pool of potential candidates to choose from.

TRENDS IN RECRUITMENT

Needless to say, technology has changed the way the world is perceived. In fact, it has created an entirely new world of its own. It has made its way into various types, sizes and levels of an organisation. The recruitment industry has also seen a sweeping change due to the implementation of technology. A lot of old-school methods have been substituted and newer recruitment trends have made their way in the industry.

The most important recruitment trends in the present are described below:

  1. Recruitment Marketing:

    This means undertaking marketing strategies but in the field of recruitment. This is done to attract the best candidates for the existing job positions as well as to build the brand image of the company.

  2. Mobile technology:

    According to a recent study, more than 60% of the candidate hunt for jobs through their phones. More than 20 percent of candidates submit their applications from their home. Hence to amplify the recruitment process, the recruiters should adapt to this change and switch to mobile communication with the candidates.

  3. Inbound recruiting:

    Inbound recruiting means the implementation of various digital marketing strategies to build strong relationships with potential candidates over time. This means attracting various active and passive candidates and thereby completing the recruitment process.

  4. E-resumes:

    Gradually as more candidates are choosing the online medium for their job applications, the recruiters should also evaluate the e-resumes. Paper resumes are an old-school method and they are now substituted by digital resumes. These include video resumes, social media profiles, digital portfolios, etc. These give a more comprehensive idea to the recruiters about the traits they are searching for and the right fit.

  5. Artificial Intelligence:

    Artificial Intelligence is responsible for automating a huge number of jobs. Even though it is not the perfect substitute for HR, but its implementation is inevitable. There are AI softwares that are used in interviews. These judge traits like nervousness and truthfulness of the employees. Know more about the AI in Recruitment here

  6. Gamification:

    Gamification is a brand new and emerging trend in the recruitment process. Here an interactive game is introduced to the candidates. These games are then plugged in with various corporate and business situations. This shows how a candidate will react under a specific situation and hence it increases the efficiency of the hiring process to a great degree.

FUTURE OF RECRUITMENT

The future of recruitment is now and it is here to stay. The current trends in the recruitment industry will get amplified and turn into a foundation upon which the future of recruitment rests. With the pandemic, each company is trying to manage costs as well as keep their operation intact. In a scenario like that the recruitment process has also undergone sweeping changes.

The use of Virtual reality, video interviews, artificial intelligence are not mere try-outs. They are the necessity of every organization. These will revolutionize the recruitment industry in the next couple of years and these will become the new normal.

Hence the current recruitment trends are extremely vital to the sustenance and success of this industry. In a situation far worse, we will find ourselves falling back on these trends and abiding by them.

Recruitment is up for a complete revolution.

Digital Transformation in HR & Recruitment

Posted on by Aashritha Ramesh
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We live in the 21st century which is fondly dubbed as the era of technology and digitization. In the corporate world, companies are equipping themselves with the latest analysis models and the systems that make the workflow easier. But it is coming as a major revelation to many organizations that any corporation thrives only with a capable and quality assured workforce!

So how to coalesce a potent workforce with digitization?

Take for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic that the globe has been suffering through. This global chokehold has brought down business and economy for many companies across the world. They have faced recession and lack of functioning in all these months of lockdown.

Digital Transformation in HR

During such uncertain times, organizations have to be agile. Now more than ever, business owners need to think on their feet and change their priorities fast should the need arise. When the lockdown started, many companies had to switch to remote work overnight. And a lot of them were unprepared.

This has accelerated the need for digital transformation.

  1. Remote Working:

    Cloud computing aggressively pushes software ‘off-premises’, and digital age also causes employees to work remotely. Mobility and partial remote work are becoming the norm for many companies around the world given the current circumstances. Employees can use various digital tools for operating and reporting. Managers no longer focus on finding an employee near the office but instead choose an employee with the necessary skills for the role.

    Internal communication has never been so fluid. Employees have many options for communication – social networks, intranets, emails, instant messaging applications, forums, VoIP and much more. Communication becomes fluid and gaps between business and clients are shortening.

  2. Performance Tracking and Analysis:

    While employees have more freedom than ever, some criticize the need for an administrator when it comes to reporting.

    For example, most HR managers will experience a digital transformation of HR and be equipped with digital tools and dashboards that measure and predict personnel activities that were previously difficult to capture. Analysis and reporting on the performance of individual employees at any level of the corporate hierarchy and their impact on the company are now undeniable. As a result, it improves interaction and relationships with human resources and management.

    There’s no doubt that digital tools have a positive impact on the optimisation of work and communication. The results include operational objectives achieved faster.

Digital Transformation in Recruitment

With unexpectedly shifting recruitment efforts, the talent acquisition department also increasingly feel the need for effective digital solutions to navigate their hiring in this ever-changing labor market. Organizations with advanced digital recruitment strategies have a significant advantage right now. And those without have to act fast.

Digital transformation simplifies or eliminates administration tasks while increasing operational efficiency through the application of tech and data solutions across company departments, including hiring teams.

Essentially, digital transformation in recruitment comprises using dedicated technology to solve diverse recruitment challenges, including fluctuating and changing hiring needs, increased volumes of candidates, inability to conduct in-person meetings and interviews, and budget cutbacks.

Here’s how digital transformation can have a positive impact in the field of recruitment

  1. Reshuffling Workforce:

    By using digital technology, you can redeploy employees within and across your organization. The workforce could be a healthy mix of permanent & temporary staff working from across the globe. The needs of your business may have spiraled as a result of an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, you may need more staff working in your customer service team and fewer inside your physical stores. Having the right tech enables you to boost your internal mobility capabilities and move your workforce to where it’s needed most. Also, digital recruitment tools allow organizations to hire displaced employees. For example, a company needs to hire 50,000 extra workers amid the pandemic. On the other hand, hospitality businesses had to lay off some of their employees. So, the above company decided to build dedicated landing pages for former employees of large hospitality businesses them get a job at their organization faster.

    This kind of program usually gets candidates to join an online portal where they’ll undergo questionnaires and tests that measure their skills and competencies. This is then assessed, and applicants receive a breakdown of their skills, including any gaps in their knowledge and expertise that need working on. They’re then matched to any opportunities you have open that are likely to be a good fit. And the best part is, all of the test are automatically analysed to maximum precision digitally.

  2. Multiperson Collaboration:

    Hiring teams need to be able to collaborate remotely. This means having tools that enable you to assign projects and tasks to people and provide real-time updates on recruitment activities. This is where a cloud-based recruitment solution accessible to everyone on the hiring team is worth its weight in gold! Remember to consider who in your team will be using this technology. Ensure it meets everyone’s needs for a truly collaborative experience. Choose software with a straightforward layout, that’s well-reviewed, and easy for new users to pick up and run with.

  3. Using digital tools for recruitment:

    Recruiters can take full advantage of their existing recruitment tech stack.

    By exploring the functionalities of your recruitment software and putting them to good use, you’ll become a more effective and efficient recruiter. This may also give you the tools you need to cut back on agency spending and more extensive job advertising.

  4. Improving the recruiting experience for potential candidates:

    Despite having to do the majority of the recruitment process remotely, ensure that it’s still a pleasant experience. Candidates need to feel safe and have all the information available, so think of ways to improve your candidate communication plan.

    A great example of providing a decent candidate experience is if you’re conducting interviews remotely, be efficient. Keep the length of your ‘meetings’ shorter and update your interview guidelines. You can also set text reminders to send candidates the day before their interview. You could even upload company videos and virtual office tours because candidates can’t visit your site. This works wonders for helping candidates get a taste of your company culture without stepping through the office doors!

Digital transformation does have a downside like weak networking, time zone problems for multinational companies and team collaboration and the risk of cybersecurity.

But even these problems hold digital solutions! Nothing that can’t be sorted out by well-deployed cost-effective software.

So what are you waiting for! Let the digital transformation revolutionize the recruitment industry!

Difference Between Cover Letter and Resume

Posted on by Saumya Khatri
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Given the complexities present in today’s job market, it has become really important to familiarize oneself with every term and trend that is prevalent in that arena. Familiarity can give you an upper hand in bagging those jobs that you have worked really hard for. The first and foremost process of applying to any job would be to ready your resume and cover letter.

For an entrant, these two terms might be new or hold no difference at all. Unfamiliarity can lead to confusion and deprive you of your shot of getting selected. Although the cover letter and resume deal with the same thing, there is a vast difference between both of them.

Also Read: How to Write a Cover Letter for Job Application with Samples

What is a Resume?

A resume is a document that you present in front of your potential employers stating all your achievements, qualification and experiences. It mentions all your academic, extra-curricular as well as professional experiences, each and every one of it.

What is a Cover Letter?

A cover letter is a letter written by the employee addressed to the potential employer mentioning his interest and aspirations for the given job.

Difference Between Cover Letter and Resume

  • A resume lists all of your qualifications and experiences while cover letter mentions only those which are relevant for the said job
  • A resume is a document with details mentioned point to point while cover letter deals specifically with why do you want to apply for the given position, what makes your suitable for the roles, what do you bring on the table, what are your aspirations, how can you be an asset for the organization.
  • Resume and Cover Letter both follow different formats of writing.

Resume Sample

Cover Letter Sample

I hope now you got an idea about what is the difference between resume and cover letter. Still, if you have any queries then feel free to mention in the comment section below.

Constructive Feedback – Meaning and Guide to offer

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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Constructive feedback is one of the most important aspects of success in an organisation. No employee in an organisation is perfect and hence is subject to criticism. The nature of criticism is the deciding factor for improvement and continued success. Destructive feedback will most likely be unproductive as it does not focus on room for improvement as much as it focuses on complaining about the present mishap. Constructive feedback, on the other hand, acknowledges the problem, analyzes it, points the positives and figures out the room for improvement.

Every manager in an organization should practise providing constructive criticism to its employees. It is as much a sign of good managerial qualities as it is of emotional intelligence. Feedback, dealt with inert and overt emotional intelligence will ensure that there is a continued success. This will also ensure that the morale of the employees is not crushed and they find a healthier and productive approach of correcting their errors and improving themselves.

 

MEANING OF CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK

However, it is clearly not as easy as it sounds. Constructive feedback literally means providing both positive and negative feedback for improvement. Feedback should always be constructive as it clubs both the positive and the negative aspects and channelises them into progress.

As mentioned earlier, it might be a slightly complex job for managers as there is always an element of human emotions that creates a barrier. Having said that, consistent practise, experience and innate skills enable a manager to grasp the concept of constructive feedback at best and therefore execute it in the workplace.

 

Benefits of Constructive Feedback in the workplace

If it already isn’t obvious, constructive feedback is not only a healthy workplace practice but also extremely advantageous for productivity and overall growth. Below discussed are the most notable advantages of providing constructive feedback to the employees :

In a study by Harvard Business School, 57 percent of employees prefer constructive feedback overpraise or criticism. This means that most employees prefer to know both their strong points as well as the points of improvement.

  1. Improves employee performance:

    As already mentioned and known, no employee is perfect. Hence they are prone to making mistakes. Constructive feedback will allow them to know their mistakes and will also provide enough motivation to act on them. Hence, this will significantly impact their performance and also help in their professional growth.

  2. Two-way benefits:

    Constructive feedback does not only help employees’ growth and performance. It, in turn, improves the productivity and work culture of the organisation. Upon helping to attain the growth to the employees, constructive criticism attains the consequent result that the organisation as a whole performs well.

  3. Ensures transparency:

    Constructive feedback ensures transparency amongst all employees as well as between all hierarchies. Feedback includes prior analysis of performance. This ensures that the top-management knows the shortcomings of its employees, the places for improvement, and also the current areas of high productivity. On the other hand, the employees also know what the management expects of them and the places where they are expected to bring change.

  4. Better team and intra-organisational performance:

    Transparency and clearly addressing the issues maintain a strong organisational fabric. This ensures that healthy interpersonal relationships exist within the organisation and its various hierarchies.

     

How to offer Constructive Feedback?

Constructive feedback, from its idea conception, execution and deliverance should follow a path that ensures its success. It should not only be well designed but also well-researched since it has its specific impacts that follow. Ill-designed feedback can have the possibility of demoralising the employees which may result in worsening of team relations within the organisation.

Below discussed are some of the quintessential steps to be followed in the process:

Preparation for giving Constructive feedback

A manager cannot possibly show up one fine morning and decide to give constructive feedback to its employees. There has to be a preparation that leads to actual feedback.

    • Identify specific goals and objectives that the manager decides to talk about.
    • Notify the employees about a meeting on the same. This ensures less anxiety on the part of the employees. Try to have a one-on-one feedback meeting with the employees. Otherwise, some employees might feel embarrassed when their shortcomings are discussed in front of others. This will lead to a diverted focus on the embarrassment instead of the potential to improve.
    • A surprise meeting of feedback may lead to a negative element of surprise and result in a communication that is ineffective. 

Communication guidelines

When the preparation is done and it is time for the feedback, the managers must keep the communication sincere, clear and transparent to ensure successful constructive feedback. The following are some of the guidelines of communication that should be followed during the feedback meeting.

  • Try to have a one-on-one feedback meeting with the employees. Otherwise, some employees might feel embarrassed when their shortcomings are discussed in front of others. This will lead to a diverted focus on the embarrassment instead of the potential to improve.
  • Be direct in the conversation to make sure that the message is clear and straightforward.
  • Do not employ anger as one of the expressions while providing constructive feedback. The communication should, at all times, be calm, composed and professional.
  • Listen. Constructive feedback should also employ active listening on the part of the manager.
  • Be appreciative. Providing constructive feedback is all about pointing out the shortcomings and motivating the employee that he/she can do better and improve his/her performance. Hence, the communication should be appreciative.

 

Feedback content

The communication guidelines are the driving force of the actual feedback content that will be put forward in front of the employee. Having said that, it is also important to note that the content should also follow a structure as discussed below.

  1. Observations: The person giving feedback should ALWAYS communicate his observations. This can include facts, statistics, performance reviews, client reviews. But at no point should the feedback include judgemental expressions. This vilifies the entire concept of “constructive feedback”. The observations should include both positive and negative feedback. The positive ones should be about appreciation and the negative ones should be about improvement. Blatant criticism should be avoided during the feedback deliverance process.
  2. Balance: There should be a balance between both negative and positive feedback to concentrate the effects of both empty praises and severe criticisms. That is the most important element of constructive feedback.
  3. Provide examples: An important element of providing constructive criticism is to effectively communicate to the employee to facilitate positive change. For that to happen, generalisations should be avoided. The manager should provide context and examples to the employees.

Listen

Once you are done providing the feedback, it is extremely important to listen. Feedback without active listening is not constructive in any way. Listen and understand your employees’ take on the problem. Take notes as this will give them a feeling that their words are given importance too. Ask constructive questions like what does the employee think about the current situation, or how does he plan to change it. In short, invite discussion and make sure the employee feels a part of the discussion as much as the manager.

Provide suggestions

After the manager is effectively done listening to the employee, it’s time to put forward his/her suggestions. However, this is a tricky part. The suggestion that the manager makes should be devoid of any bias. Also, it should be in good accordance with what the employee has said in the last step. If the employee has mentioned any struggles, the suggestion should be in alignment with that. Otherwise, the employee is most likely to feel invalidated. Besides the suggestion should be strictly in terms of the problem that is being currently addressed. Any past issues or personal traits of the employee should not be a part of the discussion.

Follow-up

The last part of the constructive feedback process is taking a comprehensive follow-up after a period of time. If you see significant changes in employee behaviour and performance, it is very important to show him/her gratitude and congratulate him for the positive change. This will help boost employee morale. In case, the situation is still at a point of stagnancy, schedule another feedback session to communicate the same, with the provided guidelines.

 

CONCLUSION

Providing constructive feedback is one of those essential skills that every HR personnel should be welladept with. A wrong feedback model will not only affect short-term targets but also delay long-term organisation goals. In addition to that, constructive feedback followed in an organisation increases the employer brand and hence and has various positive impacts in terms of talent acquisition.

Social Media Recruiting – Process & Advantages

Posted on by Aashritha Ramesh
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Social media plays such a vital role in our everyday lives. The whole scenario and lifestyle of people have changed today. Where once people used to wait for newspapers or radio broadcasts, or watch news channels for current affairs update, they now roll out of bed every morning and scroll through their Instagram or Facebook feeds to look for the latest happening. People nowadays have this innate need to show people how they live their lives. Every small memory, achievement, and celebration is part of a huge social digital network. This offers huge potential for Social Media Recruiting.

Social Media Recruiting

In today’s day and date ‘SOCIAL MEDIA’ is everything. It is the primary factor that influences people’s choices and decisions. A person’s digital presence can showcase a lot of things about him/her!

So why can social media play the role of a great asset in recruitment processes?

Here is a list of few benefits that recruiters might gain by using social media for their talent hunt!

Social Media Recruitment Process

Here is a step-by-step guide to help Recruiters understand Social Media Recruitment process

  1. Identity Channels: Identify the social media platforms based on your target segment.
  2. Share Jobs: Post Jobs on this platform to attract top candidates. Feel free to share your Jobs in these Facebook & WhatsApp groups
  3. Search & Scout: If the social media offers search capability, look for candidates who match your criteria
  4. Approach: Approach them & share your interest in them. Everyone loves the attention!!
  5. Close: Gauge their interest, ask for resume if required and take it forward in your Recruitment process

How social media can be helpful in Recruitment

1. Job Visibility

Gone are the days of putting in printed advertisements in newspapers and magazines!

As mentioned before, any employee being sought for recruitment will definitely have a social media presence, at least in the majority of the cases. Social networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter host almost 2 billion people of a wide age and generation demographic. Gen X and Gen Z actively use platforms like LinkedIn to score job opportunities with employers.

Wherever you look, you see social networks serving as incredible platforms for identifying and recruiting talented individuals for your organization!

2. Access to Street Smart Candidates

Survey analysis shows that employees recruited through social media platforms are more approachable and very quick on their toes.

In such cases, the employee is tech-savvy and digitally oriented, a factor of an advantage when recruiting nowadays. Additionally, such employees will also know the latest trends and patterns of business. Announcing recruitments through the employee’s social media will make them more productive and retentive at the company.

3. Employer Branding

The public trusts the quality of a brand or a business by its social media reach. Employing a strong and effective social media plan in order to scout potential employees will be equivalent to a double-edged sword as it not only attracts employees to your calls but also builds a trusted brand image in the viewers’ minds.

Hence, social recruiting is effective, not just in finding you the ideal candidate, but also in increasing the visibility of your brand.

4. Reducing Hiring Time

The orthodox recruitment methods generally take longer than social media recruitment methods.

This means that when you have an open slot to be filled in the shortest time possible, social media is the platform to consider. Social networking sites not only make it easy and fast to communicate with candidates, but it also allows them to respond faster. As a result, excellent work relationships often emerge.

What’s more, recruiting in a talent pool that has people who share common values, interests, and work styles with the hiring manager or company often accelerates the speed with which you will find the ideal person for the job. This is great news for both the hiring party and the candidates hoping to get an opportunity to work at your organization.

5. Easy Background Verification

Checking your candidates’ social media profiles for more information on them is nothing new. Interviewers usually check the internet for their candidates in order to see if they have any longstanding professional recommendations, issues with friends or the law, or even to look for any Google information about the candidates.

Social media can provide a huge insight into which your candidates actually are when they step through the door. Many candidates don’t feel the need to disclose any personal information on the interview and tend to keep things to them.

Some people have families and go through tough times that they don’t like to discuss with strangers. Others might have used the word point in order to write their resumes and translate them into foreign languages. You can easily overcome this by checking their backgrounds behind closed doors and making the final call about whether to hire them or not based on that.

Social media has laid out information about the employees on a silver platter, which makes the tedious background verification task so much easier!

6. Reduce Hiring Cost

Money is the driving factor behind most managerial and corporate decisions.

Recruiting can be a very expensive undertaking. Social recruiting is cheaper, but can still cost you significant amounts of money. All the same, the value you get from the hires you find via social networking platforms makes this approach extremely cheap.

Without a doubt, recruitment costs via social media are almost always, lower than those of other methods. A simple Facebook ad can for instance get you over two times more visibility than the traditional recruitment methods like classified ads in the dailies and job boards.

Recruiting anyone based on their resume and interview alone isn’t enough most of the time. Every once in a while you will come across a candidate that just seems “off” to you as a recruiter. They might be too ambitious, too scared, or simply unwilling to disclose past working experiences to you.

Candidates that are difficult but have hidden potential need to go through further screening in more detail and social media recruitment is perfect for the opportunity. The traditional ways of putting out a job vacancy and waiting for people to come to you are a thing of the past in most industries.

While the benefits of using social media in your recruitment strategies are numerous, it’s also important to point out that adequate content management is also needed. If you put a person without any internet advertisement experience in charge of developing and distributing content, you won’t reach the required number of people before your ad campaign starts.

Also, reaching the wrong audience is just as easy as reaching the right one and it all depends on the type of content you publish. Give social media advertisements a good look before denying its applications. You might be surprised by the results you get during your next recruitment cycle!

Leave Policy – Guide for Creation and Implementation

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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Employees are the most important asset of any organization To make sure that the employees are productive and do not show high levels of absenteeism, the HR personnel has to undertake several policies. These policies are to ensure that the interests of the employees or the human capital are protected. Leave policy is 1 such important policy that has a high bearing on employee engagement and attracting talent

The leave policy of an organization is laying down a proper guideline as to how many leaves the employees can take in a year and on what grounds. The absence of a proper leave policy only means incompetent management. This can potentially lead to the sudden absence of employees, lower productivity, and less productive hours. This can impact the overall productivity of the organization and lead to missing targets and deadlines.

LEAVE POLICY MEANING

Leave policy in an organization is the total number of leaves that an employee can take in a year. This also includes the types of leaves, their nature, whether they are paid or unpaid, what is the maximum duration for those leaves, etc. A leave policy includes the paid leaves, the unpaid leaves as well as the national holidays that an employee is granted. They should also include the process to be followed for taking a leave.

The leave policy is an annual policy statement that is provided to every employee of the organization mentioning all the above-mentioned details.

Types of leaves

  • Casual leave OR Sick Leave

    Maximum 12 casual leaves can be availed by an employee in a given year. Casual leaves are paid in nature. They cannot be clubbed with any other leave and cannot be carried forwarded to the next year. Casual leave for 1 day should be applied for a day in advance. For more than 2 days, it should be applied a week prior.

  • Earned leave OR Privelege Leave

    The application for earned leaves should be put 15 days prior. Earned leaves can be carried forwarded to the next year. However, for employees who have been in service for more than 5 years, only 45 earned leaves can be carried forwarded. To maintain the LTA, compulsory 6 earned leaves have to be taken by the employees.

  • Maternity leave

    A woman employee can take maternity leave for a paid period of 26 months. Leave during the first 7 months of pregnancy will be considered as normal leave. The employee can take maternity leave 8 weeks before the due date of delivery.

  • Paternity leave

    Every regular male employee is applicable for availing a paternity leave. The paternity leave must be taken within 15 days of childbirth. The leave has to be availed on a stretch. The leave must be applied for 15 days before the due date of delivery.

  • Unpaid leave

    Once an employee has used up his current allotted leaves, he/she can apply for leave without pay. If an unpaid leave is availed without proper permission, it will be subject to disciplinary action by the management. Three months of unpaid leave can be availed at the most.

  • Compensatory leave

    When an employee has finished a specific task of importance or has worked on a national holiday or any declared holiday, he/she will be eligible for compensatory leave. However, this leave must be availed within a month otherwise it would not be applicable anymore.

CREATING A LEAVE POLICY

Creating a leave policy is not only an extremely vital task in terms of the organization as well as the employees it is also complicated. An organization cannot frame an ill-designed leave policy and impose that on the employees. The policy needs to comply with all legal requirements, employee acts, and also follow best practices for employee welfare. The leave policy should be created keeping in mind diverse aspects concerning both the organization as well as its employees.

Purpose

While creating a leave policy, the purpose and the conditions under which leave can be taken by an employee must be mentioned. It is to be noted that an employee cannot take leave daily and whenever he/she wishes. Hence the purposes like casual leave, maternity leave, military leave, et cetera should be mentioned in the leave policy.

Compliance

The compliance of taking the leaves should also be mentioned. This means the duration for which a particular leave can be taken, who is the reporting authority, the process of applying for the leave, whether it is paid or unpaid should be stated in the leave policy.

Legal guidelines

The legal guidelines and acts should be double-checked and it should be made sure that the policy is strictly following all the legal guidelines concerning the case. It is highly suggested to employ an attorney for framing an organization’s leave policy.

Insurance

The employee insurance factor should also be considered to ensure that the company does not run into any trouble during the employee leaves.

Final framing

After all of these factors are considered and double-checked the leave policy should be finally made in writing and produced as an official statement for the employees to go over.

As already mentioned, leave policy is an extremely vital part of any organization and hence before it is officially framed the above-mentioned factors should be

NEED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF A LEAVE POLICY

The fact that a company will spend so many resources on creating and implementing a leave policy poses a very important question – WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?

From a layman’s perspective, a leave policy is just a rule book of when and how can a person skip work. However, from an organizational and HR perspective, it has a great significance. The policy protects an organization legally. Besides, it also makes sure that an organization is never under-staffed and is ready for contingencies.

A leave policy and its compliance makes sure that an organization at all times has a transparent of its needs and its present resources.

  1. Without a structured policy, an employee will most likely take an uninformed leave. This will impact the entire organization as there is no clear guideline about how to substitute the absent employee’s work.
  2. Leave policy improves the communication between the employer and the employee regarding the functioning of the organization and individual responsibilities.
  3. Needless to say, it fulfills the legal obligation of any organization.
  4. A proper policy prepares the organization for any kind of contingency. Also, it avoids ambiguity regarding the operations inside an organization in case any employee is absent.
  5. It provides higher flexibility in terms of the employee in case of time-off.

COMMON GUIDELINES REGARDING A LEAVE POLICY

Some common guidelines apply to every leave policy irrespective of the type, size, and nature of the organization. It is as described below:

  1. The annual calendar of leave starts from January and ends in December.
  2. An employee would not be applicable for an earned leave unless he/she has finished the probationary period.
  3. An employee must utilize 18 leaves in a year to maintain a work-life balance.
  4. Not more than 9 earned leaves can be carried forwarded to the next year.
  5. A leave without proper approval will be counted as unpaid leave.

CONCLUSION

Leave policies are not an organizational luxury, it is a necessity. For every budding as well as established HR personnel knowing the nitty-gritty of a leave-policy is a must.

It has multi-dimensional benefits and its significance is huge.

Employee Induction – An HR’s Guide to Successful Employee Onboarding

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Do you remember the day, when you toddled to the doorstep of the kindergarten and was endorsed in complete vacuousness?  You feel how awkward, insecure, and bland one can experience. The same sort of feeling is felt at every new stage, new place, or with a new relationship of life. That is why a friendly and relaxing introduction or say a quick warm-up is essential. In this article, we would be discussing Employee Induction or Employee Orientation.

Employee Induction is the initial step of anyone’s corporate life which involves a warm welcome, introduction of employees among themselves, organizing savoring food, and preparing them for their respective roles. The company’s culture, important personalities like the HR team, VPs, Directing Head, etc are introduced, along with the pathways and of the company building.

A prosperous Employee Induction process provides a chance for the organizations to easily sell themselves to the new employees or can say a quick show-off( sometimes), and if went smooth, then can significantly increase the retention of staff, become the WOW brand, and reduces the time for a new employee to settle and feel cozy into the new working environment.

Employee Induction is similar to an event, so simply figure out all the requirements and necessities of it, in an Employee Induction checklist

As it would be someone’s most awaited day with spice and salt of excitement and clumsiness both, so through every way it has to be made perfect and a memorable one. So here is a list of certain points to retain while organizing one good induction program

What to include in an Employee Induction

  1. The company ethics, culture, history, products and services, and the working culture’s essence should be themed on the first day.
  2. The significance of the job role along with the candidate’s potential should be well explained.
  3. The infrastructure of the company, a guiding map, its departments, and the other utility corners should be guided.
  4. The Employee’s future department along with his or her desk must be introduced with a broad welcoming smile.
  5. The rules and regulations, objectives, practices along with the Personnel policy should be mentioned.
  6. Working hours, vacation policies, overtime, safety measures, leisure hours, reporting format, etc should be well- explained.
  7. Social benefits, other brand associations, recreation services, and the quality and quantity of clients the company hold.
  8. Opportunities, salary hikes, promotions, transfers, suggestion schemes, and job satisfaction should be channeled there itself, with the introduction of all the major senior bosses of the company.

Who hosts Employee Induction?

Generally, it is done by the senior post holders of a firm, especially the HRM department, if someday they feel that it has to be done by some other team then the best responsibility taken will be the new employees superior. For example, the technical department may inform them about their desks and cabins, the operational team of the employment contracts, etc. This way can relax the new employee because they will be making a new friend, getting indulged ion the company along with participating in social connections. The hosting of the induction should not be restricted by certain parameters or a department, whomsoever wants to participate should be involved and make it a better one. They will then perhaps make it their responsibility for ensuring that the new employee integrates into the company with the best balance of everything+.

Objectives of an Employee Induction

See if something has to be done, then let us do it in a better way, do get associated with some of the objectives, to maintain the consistency of efforts. Some of the possible objectives might be –

    • Creating a positive atmosphere and spreading good vibes to give a comfortable environment to the newbies.
    • Addressing the entire team and giving them space to interact with their fellow mates too.
    • Increasing comfort and the feeling of belongingness, by sharing their experience of their first day.
    • Imparting vital information with them to befriend them with the corporate culture, firm’s policies and procedures, and the infrastructure.
    • Sharing the ethics and values of the organization with furthermore job-specific information.

I do not see any harm in creating a congenial and happy environment for the future team. The freshers are onboarded and from tomorrow would be called today’s fellow team. For that, they need to undergo all the internal details of the company, its procedure, the training, seniors with a relaxed mindset. Any negligence with the thought of a denial of induction or orientation might land the company with high labor turnover, misconceptions & confusion, and costing their pockets and clock both.

Employee Onboarding Best practices

The below examples are some of the tried and passed tips for you to implement in your cases.

  1. Welcome them with some gifts, followed with a social gathering, and then closed with a brisk high tea or something.
  2. After the entire content delivery is over, give them a space to raise their questions and hence a chance to come in the notice.
  3. Indulge them in certain activities, so that there are certain chances for interaction among them.
  4. Being more precise about corporate planning, one might even plan a schedule for the upcoming week or the first 15 days or so.
  5. Never ever try to exaggerate anything. It will create a bad impression.

To conclude I would like to say that, celebrating certain days is considered to be good, and starting an important phase of life with positivity will yield higher benefits. On keeping the employees happy, it will create homely behavior welcoming threaded benefits.

Best Answers for “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t” Interview Question

Posted on by Zainab Sutarwala
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One of the most difficult questions you come across during your interview session is “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t” and is aimed at you as an individual. The question elaborates moreover your reaction to ‘your strengths.’ It could be a tricky question, but there is nothing to fret, as we will look at it in complete detail with sample answers for your reference only. Most of the interviewers will have their list of questions applicable to your role, but there are some specific questions that are common and universal. “What are your strengths or makes you different?” is one of the questions, and can be asked in interviews for various roles. Also Read:7 Most Common Job Interview Questions and Answers It can be a bit tricky one to answer instantly and catches candidates off their shield. Let us look at some tips and give a satisfying answer. The main reason for interviewers to ask this particular question is to get insight into your capabilities and understand your special talent. The interviewer can ask you this question in different ways, like:

  • What can you do for the company that other candidates can’t?
  • Do you think you are a perfect fit for this job?
  • What are your skills that others don’t have?
  • What makes you unique?

Why Do Interviewers Ask “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t?” Whenever you get such a question from your interviewers, it means that they want to delve a bit deeper into your skill, personality, and character. The main reason for asking this question is they want to know what qualities or skills you value – and how you will apply it.

How to Answer: “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t?”

This question is not about showing your superiority or what makes you unique. Your interviewer wants to know what makes you different from other candidates in relation to the value or skills you can bring to their company. They are interviewing many candidates with the same qualifications, so for them, this question will help them distinguish yourself from other candidates. Many times interviewers ask this question to know how much creative an interviewee is. This makes candidates think instantly, and the best answer shows your interviewer you have innovative skills that are highly valuable in a wide range of roles.

Key Points to Look At

Your answer must focus on your capabilities and give an outlook on how you will serve the company.

  • Make sure you keep your complete focus on yourself rather than comparing it to anybody specific.
  • You can show your certifications or qualifications that you have.
  • Talk about your interpersonal strengths & how you will add to the team.
  • Suppose your skills are specific to your field or industry, highlight how you will use it in the most remarkable ways.

Points to Avoid

Answers to such questions will go downhill if you are not well prepared.

  • The first rule is never to put anybody down to build yourself high. Focus more on why you are better than others, not why they are behind you.
  • Never look arrogant. Pay attention to the facts, not on your perception.
  • Do not get confused. Make sure your answer is focused, has useful information, and in brief.
  • Keep your modesty aside and speak confidently on what makes you better without appearing egotistical.

To be a great employee, you need to have your abilities to meet the employer’s requirements. Whether the organization you are applying for the job is the consulting firm or tech startup, showing that you know the organization’s requirements and address them can go a very long way in impressing your interviewer and making you a part of their team. To make things simple for you, we have given some sample answers to “What Can You Do For Us That Other Candidates Can’t?” Remember, these are only for your reference, and you must draw your answer as per your skills and experience and be relevant.

Sample Answer #1

After going through the job description, I knew it would be the perfect match for me. My managerial skills and experience align perfectly with what you want for the role. I am quite confident that my abilities and experience can help me to execute the management position successfully. I was effective in leading my team for 3 years and helped my region to earn the prestigious title. Besides leading the team projects successfully, my networking talent helped me develop good relationships with clients, vendors, and developers. My work experiences, with good communication skills, friendly attitude, and work ethic, makes me an ideal and a strong candidate for the role. I have the required experience to contribute to your team immediately. Without any doubt, I am highly excited about the vision of working in your company.’

Sample Answer # 2

“I’m an innovative person who wants to get associated with a team that builds great branding strategies. I have done many marketing campaigns during my class projects and my previous internship, and I am aware of the challenges I might face in this job and know how to deal with it. I have three important abilities that most of the candidates cannot offer: With my problem-solving skill, I can improve the campaign performance, have complete knowledge about social media campaigns, and have good experience in email marketing. Combining my knowledge and hard work for this industry, I am pretty sure I will prove to be an ideal candidate for this job.” Tip: Ensure you do not take more than 60 seconds to answer the question and practice it till you get over it. The Final Takeaway Now you have some suggestions to answer the most unique and common interview questions that have puzzled many interviewees. Make sure you are well prepared for your job interview questions and answer them confidently!

Skip-level Meetings and Why They are Important

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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An organisation runs on its human resource. With high upgrades in the technological constraint and the progress of Artificial Intelligence, a large number of jobs are automated and rightly so. As per future trends, AI is likely to take over 37 per cent of the total jobs in an organisation in the next six years. In Spite of that, it’s debatable as to how effective that is and if it can completely surpass the need of the human capital. 

Employees keep the social and the operational structure of an organisation impact and each employee has a specific role to play. Irrespective of the fact that which level of the organisational hierarchy an employee belongs to, the work and presence of every employee is detrimental to the success of the organisation.

Now, keeping a large group of employees can never achieve organisational goals. The employees have to be met with consistent appraisals, feedback, raises, etc. This is to say that the employee has to be provided with positive reinforcements in order to boost his/her morale which in turn would lead to increased productivity and long-term retention.

There are a number of ways by which employee morale can be boosted and not all of them are monetary measures. This is where skip-level meetings find their significance. In these kinds of meetings, employees from even the lower levels of the organisation are duly given the significance and hence inculcates a sense of importance in them. This boosts employee morale and also has a different edged advantage. Skip-level meetings also allow the upper-level management to gain information from the grass-root level of employees without any filtration from their immediate subordinates.

Read on to find out the know-hows of Skip-level meetings.

What does a skip-level meeting mean? 

Skip-level meetings are meetings where the flow of information in an organisation is bypassed along the traditional hierarchy that an organisation follows. This means the top-level management, say the Vice President does not conduct a meeting with his/her immediate subordinate. Instead, the VP skips two or more levels of the hierarchy and holds a meeting with a relatively lower-level of an employee. 

This means that upper-level management has a better and clearer insight into employee perceptions as well as the employee attitudes at the grass-root level. On an overall dimension, it increases the transparency of the entire organisation. On addition to that, it also improves effective communication between all levels which is one of the most detrimental factors to the success and productivity of an organisation.

Why conduct skip-level meetings?

Skip-level meetings have multi-dimensional uses and all of them advantage both the employees as well as the organisation as a whole. It is a sure-shot way to gather authentic information, boost employee morale, improve the organisational fabric as well as ensuring transparency at all levels. There are a number of reasons why HR personnel should include skip-level meetings as an important aspect of the functioning of the organisation. It is a great way to bring individual goals and organisational goals under the same roof to make sure they coexist and evoke mutual success.

Advantages of skip-level meetings

  • Skip-level meetings ensure a high degree of transparency of information in the organisation.
  • It creates a healthier and more open environment at the workplace where even lower-level employees feel included in the operations.
  • Increased employee engagement ensures that they feel important thereby leading to a boosted morale and better productivity.
  • A universal understanding of the company’s vision, mission and priorities, both short-term and long-term.
  • Getting a clear and detailed picture of the organisation from the ground up.

Things to keep in mind while conducting a skip-level meeting

The primary objective of a skip-level meeting is to improve communication within the organisation, improve employee engagement as well as boost employee morale. Whereas in some cases skip-level meetings are used for different purposes like collecting information about subordinate managers, gathering their work review etc. Also, the success of a skip-level meeting is a planned procedure that should take place months before the skip-level meeting is to be held.

Skip-level meetings are not a procedure to fish and snitch about your direct reporters. Hence the purpose, procedure and agenda of the meeting should not only be fixed but also extremely professional.


How to conduct a skip-level meeting

  1. Proper communication should be made to the manager whose level is being skipped. The reason for the skip-level meeting, the objective, the goals and the procedure should be duly communicated. Otherwise, it might cause misperception and the subordinate manager may feel that the meeting is being held as a fishing expedition to collect his/her work review from the lower-level employees.
  2. The purpose of the skip-level meeting should be clear and distinct. The purpose should not be diluted and in no case should it be used to extract information about subordinate managers or other employees to give them reviews.
  3. Due to the gap in the hierarchy, it is highly likely that the lower-level employees would not immediately open up to the managers. Hence the extensive planning is important. 
  4. Months before the skip-level planning is going to be conducted the managers should try to gel their bonds with these employees. This can be done by striking up casual conversations in coffee breaks or talking about something trending. The primary purpose is to get the employee comfortable to speak to you and give the employee a feeling of inclusivity.
  5. It is highly recommended to inform the employees before-hand about the meeting by letting them know the details. This will give the employees some time to prepare and would also eliminate the nervousness that might otherwise have been caused by an immediate summon. 

What you can ask in a skip-level meeting?

To ensure the success of a skip-level meeting, the right kind of questions should be asked in order to have effective communication. The wrong questions with the wrong-follow ups may lead to a wrong impression on the employee and act as a barrier to communication. 

Questions that can be asked during a skip-level meeting.

  1. What would help you to work better?
  2. What do you think are the current drawbacks?
  3. Who do you admire the most and love to learn from?
  4. What are your insights about the new initiative?
  5. What would you like to change about the company?
  6. Which aspects do you think are being neglected by the management?

Try to ask questions like “why” and “how” after their answers to get a deeper and better understanding of what the employees mean. Also, make it a point to take notes while the employees are answering. This will give the employee a feeling that their words are being considered and given importance to.

Summing it up

Do skip-level meetings take a lot of time?
Yes.
Does it require extensive planning?

Yes.
Does it help the organisation in all dimensions?

Also yes.

It may seem like a time-consuming affair to conduct skip-level meetings but in reality, it does the organisation more good than harm. The results it yields come in handy for any modern organisation to properly function.

Hence, skip-level meetings should be conducted on a consistent basis to harness its full potential for organisational growth. 

To get started, click here.

Top 10 Best Recruitment Startups in India

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Naukri.com, Google Jobs, Facebook Jobs and LinkedIn are the biggest players in the Recruitment Industry in India. While Recruitment Startups also face tough competition from ~23,000 Traditional Recruitment Agencies in India, some Recruitment Companies have carved a niche for themselves. 

In a competitive industry like Recruitment, some curious minds are trying to find out if a smarter way to recruit exists for companies. The beneficiaries of the e-commerce wave in India were the customers and here in Recruitment would be the millions of Job-seekers & Companies. Here I will be talking about some successful Indian Recruitment startups which have evolved through time and have created a place in the Indian market. The Recruitment industry is already touching over $400 billion worldwide & the sheer pedigree of the Indian entrepreneurs in the HR Space makes us believe that the next unicorn might just come from the Recruitment Industry. 

Selection Criteria

: Ideally, this should be based on Client Experience, User (Job-seeker Experience), Client Retention, User Retention, no. of Jobs, no. of candidates placed etc. However, these parameters can be difficult to measure & sometimes not available in the public domain. We have, therefore for the sake of simplicity chose Alexa World Rank of the site to rank the startups in the descending order. Feel free to share your views on alternate measurement metrics to update the list below

Top 10 Recruitment Startups in India

1. IIMJOBS and HIRIST

Both startups were founded by an IIM Indore Alumnus Tarun Matta in the year 2008(IIMJOBS ) and 2010( HIRIST). Matta is himself a Math geek, Enterprise Sales Specialist, and has a rich experience in the field of technology, recruiting and IT services industry. Before establishing Hirist, Matta worked with organizations like CSC, Neilsoft, and Alcatel Lucent in the capacity of a Business Analyst and Sales Manager post. This startup acted as the bridge between the recruiter and the candidate by providing free posts. It has over 5 lakh active users registered and featuring some of the best jobs in Banking and Finance, Consulting, Research and Analytics, Sales and Marketing, HR, IT and Operations, BPO, and Legal sectors. It is the largest recruitment site focused on the premium segment of the market working with about 350 companies such as Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Credit Suisse, IBM, Accenture, Flipkart, MakeMyTrip, Amazon, Zomato and helps them recruit great managerial and tech talent with ease. The company was acquired by Naukri.com in 2019. Alexa world rank of HIRIST is 12,156 and is 9,247 for IIMJOBS

2. CUTSHORT

Cutshort floated in the year 2015 by Nikunj Verma. It is one of the HR Tech startups which is leveraging Artificial Intelligence to change India’s $25 Billion recruitment industry. It uses strong matchmaking algorithms, with trusted networks and specific modulated workflow. With its SaaS platform, quality talent is searched in a fraction of seconds. Alike Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, CutShort also offers its AI-driven professional assistant by the name Voila, which makes the entire hiring process far more smooth. Alexa world rank is 2,011 for CUTSHORT

3. METTL

Mettl’s journey started in 2009 when its Co-founders Ketan Kapoor (IIT Roorkee & IIM Calcutta) and Tonmoy Shingal(IIT Kanpur & IIM Bangalore) landed with a common vision of leveraging technology for hiring practices in Indian and global firms. It offers recruitment assessment, programming tests, psychometric tests, aptitude tests, vocational skills assessment, remote proctoring, a pre-built test library of 200-plus tests along with an interview app, deep analytics in performance management, and a certification providing platform. It comes as a cumulative platform of training with hiring. It is blanketed across 100 countries with more than 1800 clients worldwide, and Gurugram-based headquarter. Mettl was acquired by Mercer in 2019. Alexa world rank for Mettl is 6,871

4. Instahyre

Instahyre was initiated in February 2020 by a prodigy pair – Aditya Rajgarhia and Sahil Gupta. They did their higher education from Stanford University and IIT Ropad respectively. It has come with an extremely surprising thought of hiring via AI. It lacks any filter feature, rather has come up with a curated list for the recruiters to hire. This helps the recruiter to attain quality service. It even comes with a secure and relaxing facility of zero spamming emails and genuine jobs. It has gained a lot of goodwill in a limited period of time by big tycoons like Amazon, Walmart, Uber, PayPal, etc. Alexa world rank for instahyre is 14,710

5. AASAAN JOBS

It started in the year 2014 by Dinesh Goel(IIT Bombay alumnus) and was recently acquired by OLX. It is an online marketplace for entry-level and blue-collar jobs,  provides a two-way matchmaking algorithm to eventually meet both ended expectations. Dinesh Goel was inspired by the unregulated Indian recruitment market where the company saw a massive market opportunity. Aasaanjobs considers its USP to be its technology-backed solutions, multilingual website, and ability to reach out and engage with candidates from diverse backgrounds, including those still using feature phones. Alexa world rank for AASAAN JOBS is 39,906

6. ZIGSAW 

Zigsaw Consultancy Services was found in the year 2015 by IIT Guwahati Alumnus Vaibhav Chouhan. Currently operational in Rajasthan, MP & Gujarat ONLY, Zigsaw offers a traditional staffing agency support to companies. For Job-seekers, it offers a Hyperlocal Job-search experience with its social media communities. Having gone through multiple product pivots, Zigsaw aspires to leverage gamification to drive engagement of Job-seekers at zigsaw.in  It is a platform of pre-evaluated profiles that HR’s can leverage to speed up their hiring process. Alexa World Rank of ZIGSAW is 1,09,868

7. BELONG

It was launched in 2014 by BITS Pilani alumnus Vijay Sharma. It is a predictive hiring platform to discover and engage high-impact talent through predictive analytics. At present, Belong works with Amazon, Reliance Jio, Cisco, and ThoughtWorks which are giants in the market. Belong’s Machine Learning algorithms are excellent and helps the businesses unearth and target high-fit talent, engage candidates through personalized interactions, and enhance hiring cycles at scale. Last year, Belong raised Series B funding of $10 million led by Sequoia Capital, and its client portfolio incorporates Ola, InMobi, Myntra, and many other market tycoons. Alexa rank of BELONG is 1,35,283

8. HIRETALE

In the year 2013, Vivek Jain, an IIT Guwahati Alumnus started Hiretale from Jaipur, Rajasthan. It is a technology startup modifying the whole recruitment eco-system by its innovative ideas in connection establishment. It is teamed up by passionate and experienced skills from IIMs/IITs and NITs apart from recruitment specialists who understand the requirements of employers & candidates equally well. Alexa world rank of HIRETALE is 1,52,556

9. JOBSQUARE

Its founder is Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah. It aims to be the number one platform of choice that connects recruiters and job seekers in real-time and eliminates the ambiguity associated with the traditional online job seeking scenario, resulting in faster jobs and a simplified recruitment process. Alexa world rank ofJOBSQUARE is 2,85,538 

10. CAJOBPORTAL

Sonia Singhal and her husband Anurag Singhal(IIM Ahmedabad alumni) came up with an idea of running a recruitment startup purely for CAs. This couple is themselves a CA. They were the very first to come up with this idea in 2013. It is interesting to know that it is an all-women team, who works from their respective homes, on a collaborative workspace, enabling real-time monitoring and flawless integration of efforts. It follows a value proposition, in terms of domain expertise, online presence, and service delivery levels. These include the top 50 percent of BSE-30 companies including the appreciations of Unilever, Asian Paints, Goldman Sachs, and HDFC. The portal is also recognized under the ‘Startup India Scheme’ by DIPP.” Alexa world rank of CAJOBPORTAL is 7,05,391

To wrap up, I would like to say that every problem comes with a solution. One just needs a correct way to go through. The same thing applies to find a job, there are plenty of recruitment startups present in India. Just stay tuned and get yourself a dream job.

What do you think about the above list? Do let me know your thoughts in the comments below!!

Performance Appraisals – Everything you need to know about them

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Performance appraisals form a very important part of the Human Resource department since they provide crucial information for the evaluation of the employee’s skill, ability, knowledge, and job performance. The appraisals aren’t just used to eliminate productivity and behavior issues, but to motivate them to contribute a bit more.

An employee performance appraisal system is very important for the organizations to enhance their employee productivity and their outcomes. The performance appraisals are the annual process where the productivity and performance of an employee is evaluated against the predetermined set of goals or tasks.

Meaning of Performance Appraisal

The performance appraisal is a kind of process of evaluating an employee for their duties. The manager assesses and observes their work throughout a year and offers essential guidance, feedback, and further progress during their appraisal duration. It includes holding the formal discussion with an employee recollecting their performance, achievements, and various areas for improvement. The manager identifies various opportunities for an employee to develop professionally. 

Performance Appraisal is also synonyms to performance review, performance evaluation, and employee appraisal. With Performance Appraisals, regular evaluation of an employee’s job performance and overall contribution to the company is recorded. These help in providing the feedback, identify those who are performing their assigned tasks well, offer a formal moment in time to evaluate job performance, distributing raises and bonuses among the employees, and even the employees wish to know their position in the organization. 

Turning to the lexicon, Appraisals gave the meaning – “An assessment of an individual based on its working ethics and then further using that judgment for the monitory purpose, promotions or salary incentives.”

Meaning of Employee Performance

In simple words – “How well the employees are contributing to the welfare of the company’s productivity? ” And this productivity comprises all the concerns for qualitative & quantitative goals along with effectiveness and efficiency. However, it does not necessarily talk about the cost involved with it.

Sometimes performance is graded on the personnel facts of accidents, turnover, absences, and lateness. A good employee is ought to contribute to the company’s upliftment with less risk od the company’s standards.

Employee Performance is one of the most widely used term in any corporate sector, especially when the Human Resource(HR) Department presumes with the  Performance Managers. Human Resource Department plays a prominent role in designing, monitoring, implementing performance appraisals. Before appraisals, they do recruitment, selection, training, domain allocation, and company induction. It means from hiring to firing, everything is picked by them. Moreover, the HR team acts as a mediator between the Functional or Reviewing authorities and the employee. It is the HRM’s responsibility to ensure a smooth implementation of the appraisal process.

Let us dive a little more, to understand the rudimentary of the Appraisals.

Objectives of Performance Appraisal

These objectives are broadly classified into 8 sections –

  • Identification of the company’s aura, by accepting its weaknesses, maintaining its strengths, and channelizing them to future tasks.
  • Wherever needed or demanded by the employees, proving them with relevant informative resources in the work of tutors, study material, a training, workshop, or a professional site visit.
  • This way it will help to categorize the employees and engender vital figures.
  • Simultaneously do remember about the salary incentives, the badge of honors, promotions, or the reward policy.
  • Another way round, if the employee expectation is not fulfilled up to a mark, sit with them, talk over it and understand where they went wrong, what made it wrong, and improvised future steps. Don’t jump on the conclusion to fire them, remember when NOTHING will work out, this would act as the very last option.
  • A company’s decorum and its ongoing client project should not get disturbed because of this ever.
  • Should be flexible in fabricating the HRM policies according to employees’ potential too.
  • At the end of each performance appraisal, keep the research and figures transparent to the individual, to build a 2-way channel, and connect them efficaciously.

Benefits of Performance Appraisal

The main purpose of an employee performance appraisal is double: It helps any organization to decide the productivity and value that employees contribute, it helps the employees to develop their own roles or duties. Well, there would be certainly many of it, that is why it is seen in every firm. Some of them are –

  • A regular and systematic appraisal system aids the HRM to properly identify the performance, areas of talent, and lacking points of the employees.
  • Helps to place the deserving candidates at suitable job profiles.
  • Helps the employees to acknowledge their improving points and get assistance from the seniors regarding the same, it may be a simple mentoring too.
  • The process of promotions and firing becomes easy peasy.
  • This helps in analyzing the HRM efforts paid, the outcome from the team’s end, and generating research for the future programs.
  • Creates healthy competition among the team.
  • Very sophisticated pattern to know the grievances of the company and the team.

Benefits of Performance Appraisal for Organization

Appraisals are the savvy of traits and performance, out of which employee worth and good or bad corners are deduced. Appraisals are essential for making many administrative decisions of selection, training, development, promotion, transfer, salary hikes, individual potential research, regulating, etc. In this meticulous manner, a sharp eye is kept on all the aspects of a firm to record its overall performance.

  1. The employee assessments will make a huge difference in the performance of the organization. They offer insight on how employees are working and allow organizations to:
  2. Address any behavioral issues that can impact departmental productivity.
  3. Know where management will improve their working conditions to improve work quality and productivity.    
  4. Improve decision-making in certain situations that need succession planning, layoffs, and filling roles internally
  5. Support employees in career development and skill
  6. Encourage your employees by contributing more and recognizing their abilities and talents. You can read more about Employee Engagement and its benefits here

Benefit of Performance Appraisal for employee

The performance appraisals or assessment is generally meant to offer the positive outcome for the employees. Insights gained from discussing and assessing the employee’s performance will help:

  1. To recognize the opportunity for bonus or promotion.
  2. Acknowledge the contributions and achievements made by your employee.
  3. Determine specific areas where there is improvement in the skills.
  4. Identify the need for more training and education for career development.
  5. Discussion of the long-term goals.
  6. Motivate your employee and make them participate and invested in their professional development.

Types of Performance Appraisal

With a right performance appraisal process, organizations will be able to improve their employee performance in the organization. Having a good performance review method will make the entire experience rewarding and effective for an employee. Let us have a closer look at the different types of the performance appraisal methods:

  1. Management by Objectives or MBO:

    The management by objective appraisal is quite a modern approach of providing performance reviews to an employee, as it ropes employee in a goal-setting procedure. With the method, managers and their employee may “agree on the specific and obtainable goals with the set deadline.” The management by objective  method makes it simple to define the success & failure.

  2. Self-Evaluation:

    The self-evaluation or assessment needs an employee to judge their performance against the predetermined criteria. The self-evaluation is generally taken intoconsideration during the official performance review and allow for thorough discussion and ensure that employees understand how he or she will be judged. Self-evaluation method can be very subjective to reflect the work performance, since employees can rate themselves very high—or low—but discrepancies between the employee and the employer evaluations will be insightful.   

  3. Behavioral-Based Checklist:

    Behavior-based employee appraisals mainly focus on their ability of carrying out certain specific tasks, and they will be very useful for assessing their performance on the quantitative tasks & for determining who to reward and promote based on the competence in those tasks. It is possible if standards for the appraisal are carefully planned out to start with, the behavior appraisals generally tend to provide the objective way to assess employee performance.

  4. Graphic rating:

    Compared to all given employee performance assessments, this can be the most traditional and simplest one. In a graphic rating method, you will create the columned table organized

    • In a first column, put the variables to be evaluated. Like: punctuality, teamwork, assiduity, creativity, and more.
    • In a next column, put the values of every variable. Like: terrible, regular, bad, good or amazing. You can provide scores from 1 to 5.The primary benefit of this appraisal is that it’s very simple to do. But, it is limited & doesn’t allow for more evaluation. For such reason, graphic rating is normally used in the conjunction with various other methods.

  5. 360-degree performance appraisals:

    This particular method involves review or feedback from many people who contacted with an employee, and keeping biases at bay. This can be other clients, colleagues, customers and even an employee themselves is needed to give their view about their role in a team.

    The 360-degree performance appraisal is said to be one of the top approach as it is all-encompassing and will give a well-rounded and complete view of the employee. It not just offers a precise know-how of the employee’s behavior and attitude, but it will benefit a person by helping with their self-improvement (giving them confidence that can help your organization no end).

  6. Sales Performance Appraisal:

    This method of appraisal is the simplest to conduct, but a bit painful. An employee will be simply judged by his results and his set goals. The salesmen are held to the financial goals quite more than any section of an organization. The manager & salesperson should discuss different ways of achieving their goals and changes that have to be made in order to make them reachable and realistic.

Process of Performance Appraisal

Selecting the right type of employee performance appraisal method will be very critical than ever as it reflects over what you think about your employees or how much do you really care about their morale. When you have found the perfect ideal performance review system for your requirements, the next step will be implementing it in a right way to eliminate any critical performance gaps or address pressing issues, which can impact overall Organisation performance

It is a systematic process to go through –

  • Firstly decide on the performance standards needed.
  • Set up Disciplinary Aspects to be followed by each individual
  • Differentiate between measurable and visible objectives.
  • Then wait for the actual individual outcome.
  • Compare that outcome with the expected or predefined data.
  • Sit with that individual or that team( varies with the firm) and review the areas of improvement and praise their good work.
  • Extract corrective and learning measure from this, and then set bars for the next futuristic iteration.

Where can Performance Appraisal go wrong

  • What if the whole data of the performance appraisals turns out to be incorrect at the end. Although it is a rare chance. But just imagine and feel those chills!
  • Sometimes equal or necessary importance is not given to the measuring factors.
  • Some of the factors are very murky to measure, as the attitude issues, cold fights, or the initiatives.
  • If the managers turn out to be biased by nature or unqualified in analyzing, then that would turn as the pain in the neck.
  • Do make sure that the client projects do not collide with this activity and a smooth functioning of all the other events takes place.

Frequency of Performance Appraisal

See, there is no standard figure of it, it completely pivots on the organizational beliefs, the vastness of employees, and availability of the appraisal drivers. But yes, out of practice it should be periodic and be considered important for moving ahead. For example can be done monthly, annually, quarterly, half-yearly, etc. It is not a healthy idea to shelve this practice, therefore it is advisable to schedule a mid-year appraisal.

In a nutshell, I would like to that Performative Appraisal is the most important part of any organization and amazing assistance to track productivity, aims, and employee engagement. Appraisals are a positive way for a manager to let the employees know how well they are performing the duties that are assigned to them. The HRM should take this task seriously and unbiasedly, even the employees must cooperate with the authority to ease it out.


Things college Management should know – An open letter to a college director

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Dear Sir,

Hope you and your family are doing good and are safe amidst this COVID19 pandemic situation.

Sir, it’s been long that I have written to you, and this time I am up with an extremely different topic to share with you – COVID19 and its Impact on Students. This COVID19 has created a jinxed pandemic situation worldwide, not only for the human living but also for sectors like manufacturing, export & import, tourism, education, entertainment, healthcare, policing, etc. Amidst all this, we have witnessed a loss of GDP, human lives, mental health, savings, globalization, and employment. According to a survey of CMIE, there has been a tumble of the Indian unemployment rate from 7.22% (January 2020) to  23.52% (April 2020). This is doleful! This disheartening situation hit the worst of the newbies because of their high aspirations and has learned and practiced a lot of entire their graduation life. They dreamed of earning a handsome salary by the end of this year, but see the irony this coronavirus played with them, by not letting their final semester exams getting over too.

Sir this pandemic came out of the blue and still pottering with any effective vaccine. A similar situation might slant back in the coming future, and again, sitting idle would not be a smart solution to it, so it is high time for us to learn and prepare ourselves with some of the imputations –

  1. Difference between Industrial needs and the training provided → We Indians have an age-old practicing of doing, what is been told, that’s absolutely a good sign but should not forget about the generation’s development. As Munshi Permcahnd said – “Be rooted in your ethics and rituals and bloom in the modern world”. There would be surely a significance of old concepts, languages, tools, or methodologies, but these should be used to form the fundamental base to upcoming and emerging utilities. It is a major problem with the Indian institutes that they are are though something different or old technology which is completely different from industrial demands. That is why industry pays/invests a little more after hiring to get an organization ready workforce. If we spare some time to think about this issue and match our training with ongoing market demand, then it would be easy for students to get placed, the company to get a quality pool, and even the college to channelize the entire process.
  2. Problems when securing Internships & Placements → Especially the students of 3-tier, 2 tier or small city face this problem of being deprived by the company’s job offer. This is because of the lacking skillset, non-engagement of college TPO and the company’s recruitment body, and lack of awareness. This can be bridged by providing better skillset training to the students, giving them sessions about soft skills, maintaining healthy relationships with the company, and onboarding industrial trainers and mentors. For the financially backward students, college should provide economic help in traveling, form filling, course fees, etc. Kindly do not just stick to that attendance register and those semester scores, they will be simply resting on that web portals only, and are not going anywhere with the student.
  3. Encouraging Individual Taste → It should not be the case that out of a class of 100 students, 50 will opt JAVA and the rest in Oracle. NO! The entire corporate, software, and professional industry are wide which is craving for many skillsets. Let those required skillsets come from your students. Just keep in mind, where liking meets passion and work, money comes all its way automatically. So keep your students’ ears wide open with an open mind for letting in all kinds of information regarding all the sectors, salary, geographical location, and futuristic scopes. After that it is the synchronization of the student, to get that adequate amount of knowledge get synced with his or her likings and create hos or her career with individual responsibility.  Along with the students, you might get the chance to explore the unseen corners of career building.
  4. Getting the correct exposure for the budding talent → You can not ask a barber to mend your shoes, similarly, you have to get on board with appropriate recruiters or institutes for a particular set of interests of your student. Otherwise, the whole nurte=ured set of talent would go wasted in vain. For example, if you have students interested in Web designing, data science, core language skillset, game designing, ML, AI, AR/VR, etc, then you have to reach the companies who are looking for similar talents and engage them with your students. Even let them know if at remote location job proceeding processes or interviews, assist them all through to reach their final destination. Feeling your high-spirit and positive vibes the student will turn optimistic too.
  5. Channelizing their interests with sound mentoring →  Have a perfect set of mentors, professors, industry experts, and learning source ready from your end, then bring down a meeting with students, learn from them, what they want, what they do have with them, where are they lacking and about their researches. Then brief down the individual skills with appropriate mentor assignment and if needed hire a tutor or purchase the course, from external media. This is a way to stand with the students, guide them, learn from their end too, and making them independent of their choices and responsibilities for the future.

I am very sorry to you Sir, if I unintentionally went too far with this topic, as I wanted my junior batches to learn from current shortcomings and want their future to be secured and glittering. I strongly believe this is the case with most of the students like me, and wanted to give a thought over it, with your wisdom. Hoping to hear from you soon.

Thank You & Best Regards!

Your student


Employee Engagement – Why is it important and how to facilitate

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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Employee engagement is a widely talked upon topic these days. It is gaining huge importance from company managers to working employees.  The degree of employee engagement is directly indicating the work satisfaction attained by its employees. Now the generation is changing and likewise demanding change with the working culture. Apart from a 10-6 job, they are looking for other factors while working like job security, informal connections, company parties, incentives, foreign opportunities, etc.

First, let us understand what is meant by the term or the feeling of Employee Engagement?

The first thing which might come to your mind may be to keep the employees busy in their task and expecting a high performance from their end. And then crediting their accounts with some pretty bucks. But it is more than that. It deals with the emotional connection which an employee feels towards the respective firm. They should have belongingness towards their work and organization. It should leave them with a sense of contentment, excitement, optimism, and gratitude.

So how can an organization, institute, or a startup practice engagement of their employees or a team in a positive manner? Here are some of the tips for the same.

  1. Emotional Aspect

    We are humans and emotions drive through our blood thus, it is the foremost thing to deal with while connecting. We have to give our employees the appropriate respect and love they deserve and acknowledge their ideas and opinions. We need to  decentralize the controlling system for more flexibility, and also evolve the working ethics with time. Earlier, spending time with family, saving money, being on a superior role, or pursuing hobbies gave happiness. But today maintaining a standard lifestyle, being happy in work hours, and having a friend alike work culture has taken some space too in the wishlist. Giving wings to the emotional commitment within the workforce for their organization and its goals is one of the main objectives of employee engagement.

  2. Quality Recruitment

    “Good seeds yield better crops!”. It is strongly believed that if the Human Resource department does good qualitative recruitment according to their company ethics and futuristic goals then it would be very easy to deal with the candidates and even mold them if necessary. So a sharp eye must be kept on the person’s behavior, likings, dislikings, and his or her background. If good cultured candidates are hired then all the engagement policies would go smooth beforehand from their end itself.

  3. Understanding through Observations

    “Actions speak louder than words!”. That is what a senior management team with CEO, COO, or VPS needs to do. Be with the working force and analyze the very granularity of their actions, their working way, their thinking, their discomfort, or even their bonds with their fellow mates. This kind of observation then ought to be shared within the observing team meetings and an individual employee’s feedback should be generated, further a customized approach should be implied to create a better place. However, this is only possible for startups or small firms.

  4. Team Forging Outings

    It is sometimes better to go out with your team, maybe to visit clients, site seeing, or a simple coffee. This would invoke a feeling of friendship and would give some space to additional conversations on market trends, stock prices, country’s GDP, emerging technology, competitors, etc. This often builds an out of the box relationship and is worth practicing. 

  5. Periodic Informal Parties

    “Sunflowers turn to the sun’s direction, no matter wherever they are planted or whomsoever has sown them”. This is because what remains inside as of nature would be there itself, and never depart. Party is the most exciting word and drives everyone crazy, especially if heard at the workplace. Parties are the best practices to grow mutual understandings, establish connections,  knowing about fellow mate’s likes and dislikes, or even just giving a cozy and free space to people. This will surely turn out as the golden egg and would be mentioned to every outsider by your employee while appreciating his or her firm.

  6. The zeal of Upliftment

    Every talent is vital and must be appreciated for being a part of an organization. If a regular motivation is sprinkled on the employees showing their qualities and then driving them to aim and do better, then eventually the whole motivated team would uplift the team’s goal and business as a whole. Give them access to training on the latest tech or tools, invest in their soft skills and listen to their strong working areas, and see the effect by yourself. This flexibility requires knocking down traditional hierarchies and allowing people to work on projects that energize them and where they can contribute.

  7. And the Reward goes to

    Aah! Such a pleasure giving sentence. It is a pure practice to motivate the team by offering them certificates, badges, incentives, promotions, or any other gesture of honor. This way they feel their presence is appreciated and an inner motivation drives through to achieve more.

  8. Being in the Other Shoe

    This is the most effective way to understand and deal with the employees for better engagement. This way you come to know about the firm’s loophole, urgent need, modifications, and even about the ongoing malpractices sometimes. One should not bind the employees in work from the office only, restrict the lunch break till 30 minutes or so, 9-5 pm tight reschedule. NO! No one likes to be herded with a set of hourly restrictions, just keep them free and focus on the result and working status.

Now the question comes, that what would these practices be yielding?

This should benefit in the following ways :

  • Decrease in absenteeism
  • Healthy working space
  • Rise in revenue
  • Increased productivity
  • Fruitful relationships
  • Higher retention
  • Customer satisfaction

Here is a list of Top 10 Employee Engagement Activities you can organize for your team

On consolidating I would like to say that building a better place is always the responsibility of each person present there. And there is no doubt that it is a tedious job, but not impossible Right? So, employers need to understand the drivers of employee engagement and apply them accordingly. Because having an engaged workforce is crucial for ensuring good growth and better stability.


How to Hire Top Talent in Smaller Cities

Posted on by Shaivee Kumawat
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A wise man has said “Great oaks fell from small acorns! ”, which meant most of the great human or idealistic superheroes have small beginnings and eventually augment by their kindness and wisdom. That is the reason to rethink if someone believes or says that talent is something only available in metropolitan or giant cities. Then NO! My dear, you are on the wrong path, talent is widespread and omnipresent. To hunt a talent, one needs a goldsmith’s eye and a true zeal while searching. Small city people often complain that their voice is left unheard, they do not get an appropriate amount of mentoring and motivation to uplift their skills, or there is no proper platform to outcast their talent or even. This creates a major area of fret for the talent seekers, society, or even the nation as a whole to search solutions for it. Recruiting employees or skill-sets that a business needs can be taxing, however, if someone lives in a small town or probably a  rural location, attracting talent can be even more cumbersome.

Roles based in larger cities are liable to attract more candidates because of its larger population, high salaries, high living standards costs more workforce, and even because of more possible areas to explore, experiment, and earn. Take the examples of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, etc. One might even realize that, apart from the city’s name, that place has built its own reputation by inclining towards a specific industry. For example, while imagining a ‘film city’ the person may land to Mumbai, or on spelling ‘tech-hub’ one might hear Hyderabad. Okay! Leaving these fine talks behind let’s think about the steps to take to improve the recruitment process in a less populated area –

  1.   It’s a two-way profit → It is often mistakenly taken for granted that finding a job is the necessity of the job finder and they should feel serious and spend extra efforts on it. But this is not the truth, finding a job and giving a job is both the party’s necessities and no one should take this for granted. Instead, the company should provide its employees with as many positive utilities as possible to retain them, keep them motivated, and also give them perks to work.
  2. Take advantage of regional networks and local job boards → It’s very important to make sure that you’re using the right mix of the online job portals and offline skill availability when advertising the vacancies. While sharing your role on social media, try to promote it within local groups on Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn or use Twitter and Instagram hashtags to make it more searchable. Even you may ask your key contacts of the specific local areas to retweet your vacancies to raise awareness.
  3. Know the candidate’s professional aspirations → Mostly it is seen that the people from small cities lack professional expertise, hence it is important to edify them with those skills. Probe the unique skill set of a person and try to match them it with a vacant job role this way it helps in making employer and the employee have a mutually beneficial relationship.
  4. Keep it in the family → “Charity begins from the home!”, that is why is it said to support the person, family and society as a whole. It is important for a candidate to have spine alike support from valued family members and having their commitment to social welfare.
  5. Know where to look → If someone is knowing the geographical area and the employment market, then automatically the potential candidates would be known. It is very important for a city to have schools, colleges, or training centers or institutes in working condition, so that it may act as a candidate pool while recruiting.

Also, a mix of community or culture gives birth to numerous perspectives, ideas, and skillsets.

  1. Develop your referrals scheme →  Referral programs act as a great idea for many businesses and are even vital for companies based in smaller towns who are struggling to attract talent with their recruitment advertising campaigns. In fact, out of research it was found that 48% of the employee referral programs were the top source of quality hire, according to LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trends 2017 report. An attractive referrals scheme will incentivize your employees to recommend contacts in their local network in exchange for a reward. Be generous and spendthrift with your reward, after all making a hire through referral eventually saves thousands of pounds.
  2. Remote working → If someone from a small area with a good and wanted kind of skill set is struggling with a change in geography by food and water change, living standard, or any other health-related issue, then it’s worth considering remote working. There are plenty of outlying roles available in this era, particularly in the IT sector. Carefully reconsider your decision on providing distant jobs, as it even comes with some unforeseen exigents.
  3. Focus on improving your brand →  Meliorating both the corporate brand and employer brand seriously, helps in coax talent from afar. For example, the pre-joining training of Infy is well known worldwide, the working culture of Tatas is very prestigious, etc develops a strong brand and a reputation as a good employer, and makes people think of their brands in their dream jobs.
  4. Sell your area to people looking to relocate → Even after considering all the above tricks, someone still fails to attract candidates locally, it’s worth looking further afield and pitching the role as a relocation opportunity. There will always be people who want to escape the rat race and move somewhere a bit more remote and away from the brisk life of the city. Think about the lifestyle and opportunity that candidates could have and sell that. If someone is ready to bear the relocation costs, even this suggestion would sound better.

After going through all the above points and understanding them to the depth I don’t think now this small area acquisition would create a lot of sigh to our recruiters.


13 Best Jobs for the Future in India

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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In a scenario where the entire world is in lockdown, and people are confined to their homes, the existing dynamics of in-demand jobs have significantly changed. Even though all sectors will resume sooner or later, in a post-pandemic situation, some professions will most likely thrive more than the others. Hence, below listed are some best jobs for the future world.

1. Digital Marketing Professionals

In the present condition, taking up digital marketing as a career is a smart option because of the rising demand in online marketing or e-commerce. Due to the introduction of the internet in buying and selling or e-business, the demand for digital marketers has increased.

Mainly requires a knowledge of e-commerce and marketing, which can be acquired by respective courses.

Also Read: Scope of Digital Marketing in India

2. General And Operational Managers

The main job of a general and operations manager is to look after the budget, finance, and operational requirements of the organisation and meet its goals. It is a suitable career option because it has comparatively less competition as it requires patience, time, and effort.

As the organisational goals are different for different companies, the least criteria for the job is a Bachelor’s degree. This job pays off quite well with experience.

3. Chartered Accountant

This is one of the most versatile career options because being a chartered accountant opens up the path for many other job perspectives, like, opening a firm of its own, banking, stockbrokers, head of auditing companies, executor of will, can be a consultant at an investment management company.

With so many job advantages and opportunities, the degree of CA requires a robust knowledge and base in accountancy and proper course for it ( e.g., B.Com ) and needs to crack certain examinations to achieve the degree.

4. Economist

In the education culture Economics as a subject is introduced in school standards of 10th, but to pursue further knowledge and degree about it, the board exam marks for the particular and related subjects need to be good.

The job of an Economist is to do research, surveys, and studies on the present situation of the economy in different scales depending on various factors. It is a pretty exciting job as this post provides very well opportunities in the public and private sectors. It also provides the individual the liberty of carrying out their research.

5. Banking

There are two different sectors for banking the public or government and the private. For the gov. sector, the BSRB ( Banking Service Recruitment Board ) plays an essential role in the examination procedure results of the applicant and all the selection processes. But in private banks, it is slightly different because recruitment is done directly by the respective bank based on their criteria.

One of the advantages of banking as a career is the salary is pretty high, and the banker gets certain opportunities and perquisites.

6. Financial Analyst

Considering the current situation, there is a high demand for financial analysts in organisations, businesses, and even personal financing. Because of the ongoing state of the economy, an opinion from professionals and experts is always useful, and this can be perfectly done by a financial analyst.

To pick up this as a career, one needs to have a degree in Finance and have a knowledge of the current budget, economy, and certain legal norms. The job pays off really well as financial analysts are responsible for the full outcome result of a successful business.

7. Tech Specialists

In the uprising demand for online support in almost all professions, software engineers have developed specially designed applications to meet the demand of these particular job perspectives. With this comes the duty of the Technical Specialists to look after the best usage of the applications and the security of the user as well as the developer.

The background of a tech specialist requires a lot of experience and high knowledge of the content.

8. Data Analysts

The explosion of knowledge has rendered it impossible for companies to monitor and track their records. With the introduction of the internet, it is still challenging for major organisations to make use of the knowledge accessible. Data scientists would also, in turn, be in fierce competition. The analyst’s job is to find trends in the data and present it in a relevant, understandable manner.

9. Cyber Security Analyst

An information protection specialist assists in compliance policies and monitoring in preparing, enforcing, and updating. They monitor security access regularly and conduct internal and external security audits to ensure there are no loopholes or evidence of security lapses. A cybersecurity analyst is also responsible for conducting vulnerability tests, risk analyses, and safety assessments, as well as network management. The analyst teaches fellow staff in health training and practices compared to other duties, and they are mindful of the main strategies to be implemented to prevent data theft.

A cybersecurity analyst starts with a pay scale in lakhs.

10. Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

First, the two most advantages of this job are the rank and the salary; both are commendable. The CISO is collaborating with the personnel to define, create, enforce, and manage procedures around the enterprise and ensure no violations of protection. They respond to accidents and develop adequate protocols and controls to minimize safety threats without triggering a business disruption. You are also responsible for monitoring the organisation’s execution of compliance protocols and procedures.

11. Registered Nurse

Due to an elderly population, nursing occupations are among the most rising technical sectors in the sector. Nursing will continue to be an extremely competitive profession in the future and would have more than 2 million workers in the industry. This is projected the number of workers would remain steady in the long term.

12. Bio-medical Engineer

Biomedical engineering is a relatively new job which has attracted considerable attention recently. These engineers are creating medical devices that can assist doctors and physicians in their daily activities. A few instances of their imaginative inventions include artificial limbs, body replacements, and biomedical accessories.

13. Rehabilitation Counselor

Rehabilitation practitioners support depressed individuals to meet their aspirations by supplying them with counseling resources. In this new age, major companies and departments with human resources are increasingly searching for consultants who will work to educate their employees about how to handle their life without wasting so much energy on the social network to online channels. Certified recovery practitioners are also in demand through psychotherapy, as the practice is projected to rise more than 15 percent over the next two or four years.

Register here on our platform to apply for these future jobs.

10 Best Free Resume Making Websites

Posted on by Aanchal Lohia
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The resume is one of the most important documents in a job-seeking individual’s life. A piece of paper that encompasses your entire life’s achievements, experiences and skills. The paper has the power to get you your dream job. The document that serves as the ticket for your corporate journey! A resume is the means to create that stellar first impression on the recruiter’s mind so that you get a call for the further rounds. So, creating an impressionable resume should be the first thing on every individual’s list, the moment you plan to take the leap and start your corporate journey.

Creating a perfect resume involves many small intricacies. Choosing the right template, the correct wordings, the right font, details of all the skills and achievements and many more. So, this is a work that requires patience and skill. You can use the age-old method of creating your CV using MS Word, but it takes up a lot of time and effort and not to forget skills! But who today has so much time to keep slogging hours to create the perfect resume?

Lucky for you, in today’s world, many online resume building sites can help you create your resume for free! Just like an application on your phone, an online resume builder is a site that creates a beautiful CV for you, just by asking for your details that needs to be incorporated in your resume. You need to select the layout of your choice, a photograph, your details, and that’s it! In short, you just got to relax and let the computer do it’s magic!

Also Read: Difference between CV, Resume and Biodata

There are many online resume builders. Some help you prepare your resume for free, while some charges for this facility. But almost all the websites ask you to create an account on their site if you want to create an online resume. Below is the curated list that helps you build your resume from scratch and download minimum one such resume formats for free.

10 Best Free Resume Making Websites

1. Zety

Zety online resume maker is one of the most popular websites for creating your resume. It provides a variety of options for templates to choose from. It also provides suggestions on how to improve the content through its resume check feature. Not only this, but it also provides resume writing tips along with the option to edit the resume as per your choice. The additional feature of cover letter creator in the same template as the resume is a bonus!

2. Resume.com

Resume.com is the website that offers all of its features for resume building absolutely for free. No limit on how many templates available, how many free resumes can be created, it is one of the easiest resume creating website. A curated list of templates, pre-defined content that is created by talking to several employers, resume.com provides it with all. So, many features and that too completely free, resume.com is a must check out the website for all your resume related dreams.

3. Resumonk

A pretty good online resume builder, which gives you the liberty to create and download up to 4 different resumes for free, beyond which you will need to buy the premium version. Some basic templates available, though cover letter can only be created after updating to the premium version. One fallback of creating a resume with resumonk is that the line “created using resumonk” comes at the bottom, which can only be removed in the premium version. So, a decent website, worth a try.

4. Kickresume

Kickresume offers only one template for the resume in its free version. Editable sections, with the options to add or delete a certain section, gives it a no-nonsense kind of vibe and is suitable for creating your first professional resume. You need to create an account for creating the resume, and once you are done with it, you are good to go!

5. CakeResume

It provides a few basic templates in the free version, where like most of the online resume builders, you need to create an account to start using its features. An extremely user-friendly interface, where the entire process of resume creation is broken into easy steps, fully customizable sections and the ability to download the first resume in the pdf format, CakeResume makes your job easy for you.

6. ResumeHelp

A hub which provides you with the option to either create a resume from scratch or to choose from multiple layouts that are present in its bank. It also provides various tips and tricks that can help create your resume, which also improves the chances of creating that positive first impression on the employer. Almost all the resume templates are available in the free version but just one drawback is that only one resume version can be downloaded in the pdf format.

7. EnhanCV

One of the best online resume builders that provide many templates for free, templates according to various industries, fully customizable sections, only you need to create an account with them first. Content analyzer helps to edit the content as per choice, great feedbacks from various press houses. For your professional-looking CV options, this is your go-to option.

8. NoVoResume

It is also like most of the other online resume builder websites, where few layouts are available in the free version. Free resume and cover letter samples are provided. Live feedback is also provided, which helps to improve the content greatly. The free version has the limitation of creating only a one-page resume, which is a good feature as condensed resumes are preferred these days.

9. ResumeGenius

A pretty standard resume builder where only 2-3 templates are available in the free version. Only one download can be done, but customizable sections, section-wise preview, resume critique from an expert, numerous examples to look from, ResumeGenius has all the basic features of a standard online resume builder.

10. VisualCV

Few options to choose a template from in the free version, editable sections, with the option to add or delete some are provided by VisualCV. The download format available is the only pdf, but a basic professional resume can be churned out in very less time. This website also provides the track option, where you can track when your resume is viewed with the VisualCV analytics.

An online resume builder is a very easy way to create a new resume with an attractive layout that looks very professional in minutes. An impressive resume that is a must for getting a job, check off the list when created from the online websites. Beautiful, impressive, content-heavy resume made within minutes! So you can relax and enjoy the pretty templates that suit your need.

How to Write Profile Summary in Resume for Freshers With Samples

Posted on by Saumya Khatri
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Writing a resume has not only become important in the job market because it tells who you are but also speaks for you to your employer. We all are familiar with the phrase, first impression is the last impression. In corporate world or any job market, your resume creates the first impression for you even before you open your mouth to introduce yourself. It is, therefore, very important to not only have impressive records in your resume but also written in a correct manner.

This article is going to tell you about one of the most important section of your resume, i.e. profile summary. Given below is all that you need to know about profile summary, what it means and how to ace the craft of writing profile summary.

What is Profile Summary?

The profile summary is the first section of the resume where you put up in the uppermost section briefly highlighting your experiences and achievements that you bring to the table which makes you desirable for the position.

Also Read: How to Write a Declaration for Resume for Freshers? – With Samples

Things to Keep in Mind While Writing Profile Summary

1. Be Brief

It is very important to be brief and keep it and concise as possible. An elaborately exaggerated profile summary is not going to help you in impressing your prospective employers. It is therefore advisable to be as brief as possible but do not cut short your significant points.

2. Avoid Mistakes

Since profile summary is the first thing that the panel looks at while selecting people for the said position. It wouldn’t look good on the candidate’s part to commit a grammatical or spelling mistake, remember the first impression is the last impression. You can take professional help from resume writers or apps specifically developed for this purpose.

3. Be Specific and Smart About the Things that you Mention

It is very important to pay special attention to the achievements and experiences that you are going to mention in the profile summary given that you have restrictions on the word limit. Listing all of your specifications can make the reader bored and disinterested which clearly doesn’t going to work out in your favor.

Mention things which are relevant to the position you are applying for. If you are lacking things to mention then you can resort to miscellaneous details and link them to showcase qualities such as leadership, patience and teamwork.

4. Sound Optimistic and Promising

It is very important to pay attention to the tone you are opting for. You should sound optimistic, promising and enthusiastic for the position. Most of the people do not pay attention to this point, but promising optimism and your attitude can influence the probability of getting hired.

Profile Summary Samples for Professionals

1. Accomplished and highly-organized Graphic Designer with MBA from IIM- Ahmedabad and over 10 years of professional experience managing complex projects in the financial industry. Eager to join ABC Corporations to help define design strategy, track progress against goals, and manage execution projects. At Indus Group, developed project strategy for 5 years incorporating climate change and branding together.

2. Dedicated Branch Manager with over 5 years of professional experience. Eager to join ABC Inc. to offer managerial services, identify sales opportunities, and provide exceptional service to customers and satiate branch employees.

Profile Summary Samples for Freshers

1. An enthusiastic civil engineering with MBA from IIM Kolkata looking for Product Management role in Bharat Industries limited. Experienced product management and sales industries from various internships at Google and PayPal, looking forward to working with Indian companies.

2. Goal-oriented Content Development Head with 2 years of internship experience. Seeking to use proven telesales skills to raise customer satisfaction at Triple-P Components. Received 98% favourable customer review scores at Gibbs-Attalla Electronics. Customer retention for repeat clients was 35% above facility average. At Chrisberry communications, received Employee of the Month Award 4x.

3. Hard-working entry-level software engineer. Focused on providing programming excellence at VBL Groups. Have completed 6 freelance projects, including a working e-commerce site that sells hats and t-shirts. One of my CAD applications was written up favourably in the Hyphenprogs blog. Active member, NHK Forum. 3rd place, FGHi Coding Competition.

4. Voracious full-stack web developer with 2+ years of experience and proven leadership and development skills. Looking to deliver development excellence at Skyware Developers. Received a WepD Award in 2017 for a client site. Increased user experience scores by 27% at Ramphose Inc. At NKL Inc., raised customer satisfaction scores 41%. Commended 3x by management for speed of completion.

5. Dedicated Software Developer professional with 2+ years of experience and high-level hardware maintenance skills. Looking to improve technical efficiency at Devel Web Incl.. At Datson Global, upgraded 150+ employee machines to Windows 10. Came in 25% under budget and was 100% HIPAA compliant.

6. Enthusiastic chemical science specialist. Seeking to use proven coding skills to deliver efficient development solutions as an intern at Johnsons and Johnsons. Built 5 serums and tested 45 cosmetic products with 98% customer satisfaction. Developed a mobile web app to ease the sales of company with 40,000 monthly visitors with 100% adherence to customer specifications.

7. Driven student social media specialist, seeking to enhance Baylor University’s student body with developing leadership skills. Founded and ran an online fundraising non-profit that raised $18,000 for ovarian cancer research. High school running team captain. Maintained 4.0 average in English and mathematics.

8. Soft spoken and patient call centre specialist with 4+ years of experience. Seeking to use expert customer support and telesales skills to provide sales excellence at KMPH. Received Gold-Star Service Award at Skyth Tech Call Centre for leading a team of 20 to 25% more sales revenue with 25% more dials than prior year

Comment down below if you have any queries about writing profile summary for your resume.

Contract Staffing – Types, Advantages and Disadvantages

Posted on by Sinibali Jana
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In this area of cost-cutting where every company wants to maximise their productivity by economising on their costs. At this scenario, the context of contract staffing comes into the picture which is extremely beneficial to both the employers and employees.

Contractual staffing is a system of recruiting employees for the short term. This means that the companies hire the employees on contract for a specific time period instead of hiring them as permanent employees. One of the most significant reasons for the growing popularity of contractual jobs is the flexibility it provides. These kinds of contracts can be seasonal contracts, part-time contracts and even independent contracts.

Types of Contract Staffing

Contract staffing has a number of subdivisions and types which are discussed under the following mentioned heads:

Part-time Contract

A part-time contract is the kind of contract staffing where the employee is bound by a contract of work hours. He/she gets all the opportunities as well as protection as that of a full-time employee. But a part-time contractual employee works for lesser work hours and has a fixed pay in terms of those work hours. Especially candidates who want to carry on with their education or skill development resort to this type.

Fixed-term Contract

Fixed-term contracts are those which are bound by requirements. These contracts are generally made against a single project and when the requirements of that project is met, the contract gets terminated. A fixed-term contract may extend in time but does not extend in requirements. It provides fixed pay and protection to the employees but lacks in continuity.

Agency Staff

In these contracts, the employees are fully hired by the agency but work for other companies. This happens because many companies employ agencies to get their work done. These agencies henceforth employee these contractual staffs. Here, the employees work for the companies but are paid by the agencies itself.

Freelancing

This is when an individual has an in-demand skillset, so he/she applies to one or more organisations which hire this employee on a contractual basis to deliver the needs of the company.

Zero-hour Contract

This is a kind of contract where no specific time or hours of work is mentioned. These staffs are needed “on-call”. When there is a specific need, these staffs are called for and after it is finished they are free to work or look for opportunities somewhere else.

Contract Staffing Advantages

Contractual jobs have dynamic benefits. The best feature of such staffing is that its benefits are not one-sided. It reaps advantages to employees, employers and entrepreneurs alike. Below listed are the ways in which Contract Staffing in the organisation helps employees and entrepreneurs/employers.

To Employees

In terms of the modern-day employees, the legal guidelines related to contractual staffing mean more command over timetables and sort of work and more control over the schedule which gives higher adaptability.

Rather than thinking about routine nine to five work, employees can work in accordance with the contractual personnel guidelines. This will help the employees to choose a schedule for themselves that is more in accordance with their calendars and needs. They have power over their remaining workload, the idea of their work, and also the degree and amount of costs involved. A contractual employee can represent considerable authority in one kind of work or fabricate a wide range of employments consistently.

High wages and salary is also a way in which contractual jobs benefits the employees. Since the employees have complete authority over their own workload, it means that they can be engaged in multiple contracts with different organisations. These employees are low maintenance and hence earn relatively more than full-time employees.

To Entrepreneurs/Employers

The contractual employees offer certain advantages for workers and bosses. These employees show signs of improving access to work, while organizations cut costs, increment efficiency, and utilize a wide system, on-request. Contractual staff or employees show clear signs of increased productivity while the companies actually incur relatively low costs on them. It isn’t astonishing that 65 per cent of managers accept that they will expand the utilization of Contractual workers guidelines later on. Join this pattern with the advancement of inventive cell innovation by making it simpler than at any other time for workers to interface with work searchers. It is additionally simple to perceive how contractual staff can make a business progressively productive, successful and positive.

Contractual workers are progressively adaptable in adjusting to changing economic situations and work prerequisites. The capacity to coordinate an assortment of work to critical requirements is a major favourable position whenever oversaw adequately. If the contractual employees are met with effective management then they can potentially show a lot higher productivity than the other full-time workers. Different sorts of work with stringent conditions can also be effectively fulfilled by these kinds of workers.

Relatively lower costs are also one way how employers and entrepreneurs benefit from contractual staffing. These employers economise on the cost of paying full-time employees. Envision an independent company that needs a bookkeeper for 6 hours every week. Employing a full-time bookkeeper is costly and a misuse of assets when long haul connections can be overseen by low maintenance assets. However, a  contractual employee for the same role adhering to only the absolute needs of the job, gets the work done and the employer does not have to pay him in terms of full-time personnel guidelines.

Work laws or labour union laws might be carefully identified with documenting duties, benefits and different social advantages paid. These labour union laws are an important aspect that employers have to adhere to. However, in the case of contractual staff, these guidelines are also less stringent providing some amount of relief to the employers.

Contract Staffing Disadvantages

With the numerous advantageous roles of contract staffing, the few downsides that it carries with it also cannot be completely ignored.

Contractual staffing provides no job security to its employees. Even though the pay and the rate of growth are high, the employees are constantly on the run to look for another job before the existing contract expires. This affects the feeling of security of job in an employee and to a degree affects his morale. Since the pressure of looking for another job while the current one continues is gruelling, it causes stress in the employees.

Legal obligations like tax-paying is a part of every employee’s life. In a full-time or permanent job, the tax obligations borne by the employee are unitary. The employee has to maintain the records of only one account and generally for permanent employment the tax cut happens before the year-end. However, in case of contractual staffing, an employee has to maintain different accounts for different jobs and hence the tax calculations at the end of the year becomes a hefty job.

In contractual employment, an important way by which the employees can create a mark for themselves is by creating a brand for themselves. Since there is no job surety, they have to constantly work to prove their abilities. In case that does not happen, they lack motivation and that affects their productivity to a degree.

Conclusion

Contractual staffing is a new-age workplace phenomenon and it has a steady growth in the current working scenario. It has numerous benefits both in terms of the employee and the employer. However, there are certain drawbacks that are most effective in terms of the employees of contract staffing. In a long-term perspective, if these drawbacks could be studied upon and steps are taken to mitigate the same, contractual staffing can emerge as a hot-favourite and can likely change the current workplace dimensions.

Difference between Hobbies and Interests

Posted on by Aanchal Lohia
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Hobbies and interests. These two words have been used almost interchangeably since time immemorial. From our childhood, most of us have been told. To develop a hobby, take an interest in other activities. Since then, we have had the same perception of these two words ingrained in our brains. But now, looking back upon it if we ponder, we can see that there is quite a subtle amount of difference between these two words. Just as a clue in a mystery game is not very apparent to the naked eye in the first attempt, similarly if we think deeply about these two words that have been used upon since childhood, we can make out the difference.

Listing your hobbies and interests on your resume means you are providing a separate doorway for the interviewer to have a look into your personality. Alignment of your interests with the job description of your target company helps you gain a positive remark in the minds of the potential recruiter. So, having a clear understanding of the terms hobbies and interests is a must when building up your resume and customizing it according to the company’s needs and demands.

Hobbies

A hobby is anything that you like to do in your free time. Anything that you love to do when you have a huge amount of free time on your hands, and you want to pass that time in a state of happiness. Anything that puts you in a state of happiness, just by the mere thought of thinking about it.

Any activity for which you garnered interest as a child and have continued pursuing you till now and still like doing it. For many people, regularly indulging in their hobbies also acts as a stress reliever, mood rejuvenator, tension releaser and many more. Hobbies can also be considered as therapeutic for a troubled brain.

It is never too late to develop a new hobby. As is a widely known saying that “It takes only 21 days to develop a new hobby”, so just dedicated efforts for 21 days and voila! You have a new hobby. And when else will you get more time than this ever-lasting lockdown? It is the time to upgrade your hobby level and compete with all your cousins in this unspoken-but-we-all-know-it-is-going-on “quarantine WhatsApp status race!”

Examples of Hobbies

Anything out of random can be a person’s hobby.

  • Dancing
  • Singing
  • Drawing
  • Listening to music
  • Painting
  • Reading

These are some of the very common examples. Some unconventional, out-of-the-box examples of hobbies include:

  • Climbing
  • Collection of some historical artefacts
  • Creating some designs and models
  • Travelling
  • Woodworking
  • Writing
  • Cooking
  • Exercise
  • Community service

 and the list goes on…….

Interests

Well, an interest though comes along the same lines as that of hobbies, these generally are spur of the moment things. Like, For example, while watching a magic show, you may develop curiosity regarding how a magic trick is performed, and so you develop an interest in the field of magic. So, interests can develop anytime, anywhere!

As swiftly as interest develops, it can also go away as quickly. Interest generally develops out of curiosity. A fascination towards a particular field, a thing or someone is an indication of interest towards that particular entity. And when that bucket of curiosity (or, an ocean, depends on you) is filled, interests change, and you embark on the journey to satisfy your curiosity level for the next interest. We can say that all hobbies are interests, but not all interests are hobbies! 

Examples of Interests

On the other hand, interest in a particular field may motivate the person to gather some more information regarding it, thereby enhancing the knowledge base on that subject matter to satisfy the curiosity. Still, the person himself may not do it. For instance, a person may not be a cricketer, he may not even play the sport himself, but can have immense interest in the field of cricket and be updated about all the past and current happenings in the cricket world!

Or for example, a person may be interested in river rafting, but he hasn’t even done it once! This will also count as interest. Interests need not be actively pursued, something that spikes up your curiosity level does the work. Some active searching for any topic that strikes your mind also counts as an interest. So the possibilities are endless. 

Some more areas of interests are:

  • Historical readings regarding a particular time frame
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Research work
  • Foreign cultures and practices
  • Different languages
  • Nature
  • Art

And many more. Like many fields, so many interest areas may arise.

Difference between Hobbies and Interests

As it is pretty clear, that both these terms though are quite similar, still have some variability among them. So, some of the underlying differences between both of the words are as follows:

  • All hobbies are interests, but not all interests are hobbies.
  • Hobbies are generally done for relaxation and enjoyment, while interests are pursued out of curiosity.
  • Hobbies generally do not provide monetary gains, but interests, on the other hand, can be a source of income for anyone.
  • Hobbies are indulged in, when someone wants to relax or when no work is done. On the other hand, interests can be a part of your work if it is also the source of your income.
  • Hobbies generally include some activity while interests are the urge to learn something more on a topic.
  • Hobbies are somethings that stay with us for a long period, whereas interests may come and go and new interests develop rapidly.
  • Hobbies require a certain degree of dedication, to be pursued for a long period. Interests evoke a much lesser degree of dedication.
  • A hobby is pursued pretty actively as compared to interests.

Interests and hobbies may be near-synonyms to one another, but if looked upon closely, there are some striking differences. If your interests and hobbies indicate you as a team player or bring out the positive aspects of your personality, it is an added advantage to your resume as well. Differences or not, both are pursued if there is a perfect click between your personality and the activity/topic. Keep pursuing what makes you happy and all your extra time will seem like a fun time too. Keep enhancing your hobbies and cover a wide range of interest topics!.

Does Internship Count as Work Experience?

Posted on by Saumya Khatri
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Job market chances of getting employed are already very thin. In such a scenario, Students are turning to every opportunity that is going to make them employable. They are utilising every possible way in which they can improve their employability. Not only this but the expertise and experience required at jobs no matter at what level and no matter what nature is very high. Today’s job market is different from the job market of 20 years ago. The job market has been changed, diversified and multiplied. 

Internships at the new talk of the town. Every student is seeking internships in many organisations to find out potential interest and experience. Some of them are solely done by them not for gaining any professional expertise but rather getting exposure or networking, which has become necessary in the fast paced world of today’s’.

Also Read: 7 Best Internship Websites in India 2020

What is Internships?

An internship is a professional work experience given to students or young career enthusiasts. They equip them with given work exposure, techniques and problems that they need to be familiar with before delving into the career professionally. 

Why Do We Need an Internship?

As mentioned earlier, internships equip the entrant with nuances and framework that are present in the profession. They expose them towards the kind of work environment they will be working in, the kinds of problems they face, how they need to be dealt with. It gives them the strategy they need to form if they want to enter the field professionally. 

Students enter into the realm of internships for other purposes also, such as building networks or expanding them. 

These internships are offered by various organizations and companies, from as big as Google and Microsoft to small and new start-ups. They are offered in various fields such as HR, digital marketing, content development, data analytics, etc.

They have become essential in a highly competitive job market where the required skills also have become advanced. A workspace where you are closely monitored by a mentor for a specific skill contributes in a very holistic way in your professional development.

Does Internship Count as Work Experience?

The simple answer to this question would be a no. But if you have done some remarkable internships and gathered some convincing Letter of Recommendations, employers can make an exception for you, especially if you are a newcomer or fresh out of college. Work experience, unfortunately, means when you are employed in a professional role. There is a fine line between getting hired as an employee and getting hired as an intern.

Difference between Internship and Work Experience

  • Whether you are hired as an intern or an employee, your contract will explicitly mention your position.
  • The value of work experience is more than an internship in the job market; however, employers can make an exception for you if you are a newcomer and have bagged some quality internships in respective fields.
  • An internship can be paid, or unpaid, work experiences are paid.
  • Internship has a termination date given from the start, and work experiences mainly don’t mention the date of termination from the beginning.

Do you want to do an internship in a reputed company? Register here on our platform to find one matching your skills.